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November’s full moon is a supermoon. When should you watch the Leonid meteor shower?

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Tonight’s full moon will be a particularly bright and large-looking supermoon – the last of 2024.

The beaver moon will be full tonight and look full for a few more days, but November skies will continue to give this weekend as the Leonids meteor shower is expected to peak Sunday night.

Supermoons occur successively in three and four copies. This year it started in August and ends this weekend; the next cycle of full moons won’t occur until October 2025.

Here’s everything you need to know about the stunning supermoon rising on November 15 and the Leonid meteor shower.

When is the next full moon?

November’s full moon, the Beaver Moon, will reach maximum illumination on Friday, November 15 at 4:28 PM Eastern. It’s below the horizon, so wait until sunset to see it rise and appear in the sky.

Like October’s Hunter’s Moon, the Beaver Moon will rise around the same time several nights.

🌑 New moon: November 1🌓 First quarter: November 9🌕 Full moon: November 15🌗 Last quarter: November 22🌑 New moon: December 1

What is a beaver full moon?

According to the Farmer’s Almanac, November’s full moon marks the time when some of the first snow appears in parts of the U.S. and Canada and when the fall foliage is gone. Signs of frost on the grass signal beavers to build their dams before the ground freezes.

November’s full moon also appears at the time when beaver pelts traditionally came to the fur trade markets.

According to the Almanac, the names of the full moon have long been associated with early Native American, Colonial American and European folklore.

What is a supermoon?

A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth at the time the moon is full. According to NASA, at a distance of about 220,000 miles from Earth, the full moon appears brighter and larger than a regular full moon, hence the term supermoon.

Because supermoons are closer to Earth than normal, the illusion is that they appear larger and brighter.

Supermoons generally appear three or four times a year, always consecutively. Before the Hunter’s Moon on October 17, supermoons include the Harvest Moon of September 17 and the Sturgeon Moon of August 19.

The Beaver Moon will be the fourth and final supermoon of the year.

When is the next full moon of 2024?

The cold moon will reach its peak on December 15, 2024.

What is the Leonid meteor shower?

A meteor shower is a celestial event that occurs when Earth passes through the path of a comet, or more accurately, the trail of debris that the comet or asteroid leaves behind as it orbits the Sun. That debris is called meteoroids.

Meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and burn up, covering the sky with bright moving light, like a ‘shooting star’, from what appears to be a single point in the sky, called the radiant point. They range in size from dust-like particles to boulders.

These meteor showers are named after the constellation where the meteors appear to come from.

Space.com states that “from Earth’s perspective, the Leonids appear to originate from the direction of the constellation Leo in the Northern Hemisphere.”

When can you see the Leonid meteor shower?

The Leonid meteor shower reaches its peak on the evening of November 17-18 around midnight. It’s best to go to the “darkest location possible and wait about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark,” according to Space.com.

You don’t need a telescope or binoculars to see the meteors.

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