2024 Full Moon calendar: Dates, times, types, and names (2024)

Full Moons wield a magnetic charm. This monthly event has been the inspiration behind myths, tales, traditions, and even farming.

We’ll update this article multiple times each week with the latest moonrise, moonset, Full Moon schedule, and some of what you can see in the sky each week.

The Full Moon in April 2024 was at 7:49 p.m. ET on Tuesday, April 23, and is called the Pink Moon.

The Full Moon in May 2024 is the Flower Moon and that will happen at 9:53 a.m. on Thursday, May 23.

Here’s the complete list of Full Moons this year and their traditional names.

2024 Full Moon schedule and names of each

(all times Eastern)

• Jan. 25 — 12:54 p.m. — Wolf Moon 🐺
• Feb. 24 —7:30 a.m. — Snow Moon ❄️
• March 25 — 3 a.m. — Worm Moon 🪱
• April 23 — 7:49 p.m. — Pink Moon 🎀
• May 23 — 9:53 a.m. — Flower Moon 🌷
• June 21 — 9:08 p.m. — Strawberry Moon 🍓
• July 21 — 6:17 a.m. — Buck Moon 🦌
• Aug. 19 — 2:26 p.m. — Sturgeon Moon 🐟
• Sept. 17 — 10:34 p.m. — Corn Moon 🌽
• Oct. 17 — 7:26 a.m. — Hunter’s Moon 🏹
• Nov. 15 — 4:28 p.m. — Beaver Moon 🦫
• Dec. 15 — 4:02 a.m. —Cold Moon 🥶

The phases of the Moon in April 2024

These images below show the day-by-day phases of the moon this month. The Full Moon in April was on April 23.

The moonrise and moonset schedule this week

The following is adapted from Alison Klesman’s The Sky This Week article, which you can find here.

*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.

Friday, April 26
The Moon passes 0.3° north of the red giant star Antares in Scorpius today at 5 P.M. EDT. The pair is not visible in the early evening, rising in the hour before local midnight. You can catch them overnight tonight by looking southeast around 11:30 P.M. local daylight time — by that time, Antares is some 6° high and the bright gibbous Moon is nearly half that height.

The two will continue to rise into the early-morning hours of Saturday. They are now some 5° apart, with the Moon sitting to Antares’ southeast (lower left). The pair will sit due south around 3:30 A.M. local daylight time on Saturday morning.

While you’re waiting for them to rise, earlier on Friday evening you can enjoy the dark, Moonless window for observing fainter, deep-sky objects. Sitting above Leo the Lion in the south about two hours after sunset is the tiny constellation Leo Minor. Within this small star pattern lies NGC 3344, a beautiful face-on spiral galaxy that glows at magnitude 9.9.

Saturday, April 27
With the Moon rising just before midnight, there are again several hours of dark-sky viewing available after sunset. Let’s seek out the Ghost of Jupiter, often considered one of the springtime sky’s premier planetary nebulae. It’s also cataloged as NGC 3242.

Planetary nebulae consist of gas and dust blown off by aging red giant stars; as these stars evolve into white dwarfs, the debris remains, lit up by the white-hot remnant within for a short time. Planetary nebulae are fleeting, only lasting some 10,000 to 20,000 years before fading away.

The Ghost of Jupiter is so named because it spans roughly the same size as the gas giant planet in our sky: about 16″ in diameter. Its compact, spherical shape combined with its magnitude of 7.8 make it relatively bright and easy to observe. To most observers, and particularly in larger scopes, it looks distinctly blue-green.

Sunday, April 28
Mars passes 0.04° south of Neptune at midnight EDT. Neither is visible at that time, as they rise a short time before sunrise — so tune in tomorrow, when we’ll catch them in the early-morning sky on Monday.

Tonight, let’s instead focus on the northern constellation Camelopardalis, which lies to the left of the North Star this evening. (Camelopardalis is a circumpolar constellation, meaning it appears to rotate around the North Star from northern locations, rather than rising in the east and setting in the west.)

Let’s first look for NGC 1502, a 6th-magnitude open cluster about 9° south of magnitude 4.6 Gamma (γ) Camelopardalis. This beautiful ball-shaped grouping of young stars is readily visible in binoculars as a soft glow, while telescopes will begin to pull out individual members as points of light.

NGC 1502 forms the “base” of a famous asterism called Kemble’s Cascade, which resembles a flow of water cascading down into a pool. The star cluster is often envisioned as the spray at the end of the line. From NGC 1502, you can trace the rest of the Cascade “backwards” to the source along 14 or so 7th- to 9th-magnitude stars to the northwest. NGC 1502 sits at the southeast end of the Cascade, which stretches about 2.5° in total.

Sunrise: 6:03 A.M.
Sunset: 7:53 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:11 A.M.
Moonset: 8:53 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (79%)

Thursday, May 2

Sunrise: 5:58 A.M.
Sunset: 7:56 P.M.
Moonrise: 3:09 A.M.
Moonset: 1:36 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (36%)

How and why do Full Moons occur?

The phenomenon of a Full Moon arises when our planet, Earth, is precisely sandwiched between the Sun and the Moon. This unique alignment ensures the entire side of the Moon that faces us gleams under sunlight. And thanks to the Moon’s orbit around Earth, the angle of sunlight hitting the lunar surface and being reflected back to our planet evolves, giving birth to varied lunar phases.

These phases span the New Moon, waxing crescent, First Quarter, waxing gibbous, Full Moon, waning gibbous, Last Quarter, and waning crescent. A cycle starting from one Full Moon to its next counterpart, termed the synodic month or lunar month, lasts about 29.5 days.

Though a Full Moon only occurs during the exact moment when Earth, Moon, and Sun form a perfect alignment, to our eyes, the Moon seems Full for around three days.

Different names for different types of Full Moon

There are a wide variety of specialized names used to identify distinct types or timings of Full Moons. These names primarily trace back to a blend of cultural, agricultural, and natural observations about the Moon, aimed at allowing humans to not only predict seasonal changes, but also track the passage of time.

For instance, almost every month’s Full Moon boasts a name sourced from Native American, Colonial American, or other North American traditions, with their titles mirroring seasonal shifts and nature’s events.

In addition, there are a few additional names for Full Moons that commonly make their way into public conversations and news.

Common questions about Full Moons

Full Moons, in their myriad forms, stand testament to humanity’s enduring captivation with the cosmos. They evoke not just our celestial connection but also tether us to Earth’s rhythms. Whether you’re an avid stargazer or an occasional night sky admirer, Full Moons invariably call for our attention, inviting both introspection and marvel.

Here are the dates for all the lunar phases in 2024: