November’s Beaver Moon is Your Last Chance to See a Supermoon in 2024
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If a big, bright, bold bella luna makes you want to throw back your head and howl with glee, you’re going to want to keep your eyes pinned to the skies on November 15th. That’s when we’ll be graced with the Beaver Full Moon, our fourth consecutive supermoon of the year, following the Hunter’s, Harvest and Sturgeon supermoons.
Want to find out more about this month’s most exciting lunar phase, including the history behind its very special name, when it will peak, and the definition of a supermoon? Read on for our handy dandy Beaver Full Moon explainer, which we promise is filled with a ton of fun facts you’ll want to plaster all over IG, along with a few magical moon quotes, of course!
The last supermoon of 2024, the Beaver Full Moon will lie in the Taurus the Bull star constellation, its usual location. (It may also occasionally fall in Aries the Ram, as it will next year, and, more rarely, in the constellation Cetus the Whale, which sits to the southwest of Taurus.)
In the early morning hours of November 16th, the Beaver Full Moon will pass in front of the lovely Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, an intensely hot group of young celestial bodies located in the Taurus constellation. Although the six brightest stars of the Pleiades glow a luminous blue usually visible to the naked eye, the intense radiance of the Beaver Full Moon will blot them out almost entirely.
Despite its luminosity, the moon gives off no light of its own, instead reflecting the sun’s rays. Full moons sit opposite the sun, forming a line in the heavens, with the Earth in the middle and the sun on the other side. When this moon faces Earth directly, showcasing its wholly illuminated hemisphere, it's said to be full.
While in spring the full moon travels in an abbreviated, flatter arc across the night sky (in opposition to the sun’s long, lofty path), in fall look for it to cross the firmament high overhead. It’ll be easy to spot, unless the sky is completely cloud-covered—this Beaver Supermoon will appear nearly 15 percent more luminous than a typical full moon. That’s despite the fact that the moon’s surface isn’t very reflective at all. It’s more akin to asphalt than snow!
What is the significance of a Beaver Full Moon?
Unless the Harvest Moon occurs in October, with the Hunter’s Moon then falling in early November (it happens occasionally as these two moon titles are determined by their proximity to the fall equinox), November’s Moon is called the Beaver Moon. This popular nickname—like Hunter’s, Harvest, Sturgeon, and many other moon names—is related to Indigenous and Colonial American and European folklore.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, it’s around this time of year when beavers nestle down in their lodges, living off of the food stores they’ve gathered for the forthcoming winter. It’s also said that the name may stem from the early fur trade, when trappers hunted the large, semiaquatic rodents for their thick pelts come November.
However, there are quite a few other traditional labels for November’s moon. (Traditionally, moon names applied to every phase of the lunar month, not only the full moon.) Some Indigenous Americans favored naming this moon around the season’s increasing chilly weather. The Anishinaabe, who hailed from the Great Lakes region of North America, called it the Freezing Moon, while to the Cree and Assiniboine peoples it was the Frost Moon.
November’s moon was dubbed the Whitefish Moon in the Algonquin culture, since it was around this time of the year that whitefish spawn. It is also known by the Tlingit name Digging (or Scratching) Moon, which may relate to forest critters foraging for sustenance before winter, and the Deer Rutting Moon, in honor of amorous deer seeking their mates in late fall.
When is the best time to see the Beaver Full Moon?
If you’d like to catch the Beaver Full Moon at its peak, head outside on Friday the 15th, at 4:29 p.m. EST. It will reach its full illumination at that time. Only those residing far east enough within the Eastern Time Zone will be able catch the fleeting moment. Elsewhere in the U.S., the moon will still be below the horizon. However, the moon will appear perfectly round the entire evening. In fact, to our eye, it will look full Saturday the 14th and Saturday the 16th, too.
Look for the Beaver Full Moon to rise in the east as the sun sets in the west, sitting atop the southern sky at about midnight, before dropping low on the western horizon as the sun rises once again. Both Jupiter and Aldebaran, the blazing eye of Taurus the Bull, will also perch nearby. Uranus will also follow the moon, although it won’t be visible without a telescope.
One week later, on November 22, at 8:27 p.m. EST, the moon will enter its last quarter. Also known as a third quarter moon, it will look like it’s half-illuminated from Earth, though what we’ll actually be seeing is half of the half-moon lit by the sun or half of its “day side.” Unlike a full moon, a third quarter moon rises around midnight and sets at about noon.
Because the full moon is so bright, it can be difficult to see its surface features with the naked eye. If you’re interested in catching a good look at lunar topography, you might consider doing your moon-gazing in the evenings just before or after a full moon. If you have a telescope, you can also reduce moon glare and enhance crater details with a special filter. Curious about the exact Beaver Full Moon moonrise or moonset time in your neck of the woods? Check out the Farmer’s Almanac’s nifty calculator.
What exactly is a supermoon?
Because the moon follows an elliptical orbit around the Earth, there are times when it swings closer to our planet. According to NASA, a supermoon occurs when a full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, a point called perigee. When the full moon is in perigee, it’s about 226,000 miles from Earth and can appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a moon in apogee. That’s when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth, some 251,000 miles away.
Some supermoons come closer to Earth than others. For example, last month’s Hunter’s Supermoon was the closest full moon of 2024, checking in at just 222,056 miles from us! By contrast, the Beaver Supermoon will be a bit farther away, at 224,854 miles. That’s because the full moon does not have to be exactly at perigee to be a supermoon—it just has to be within a certain window.
Although supermoon isn’t an official astronomical term, NASA notes that it’s used to describe a full moon that comes within at least 90 percent of perigee. That always happens in groups of three or four consecutive months. In addition to giving us a great view of our world’s only natural satellite, a supermoon can also cause higher tides than average, due to its increased gravitational pull on Earth.
The year’s run of full supermoons, which began with August’s rare Blue Supermoon, will end this month. The next supermoon won’t rise until October 2025, so this could be your last chance for a while to take advantage of a marvelous night for a (super) moondance!
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