Name: Eyes to the sky! Supermoon lights up tonight
Uploaded: 2025-11-05T16:24:05.854Z
Duration: 3 min 55 s
Description: Astronomy educator Hunter Miller breaks down what makes tonight’s moon a supermoon, the origins of full moon names, and whether it has any effects on Earth.

Astronomy educator Hunter Miller breaks down what makes tonight’s moon a supermoon, the origins of full moon names, and whether it has any effects on Earth.

Los Angeles

A supermoon, the closest of the year, will be visible in the night sky, appearing up to 15% brighter and 8% larger than an average full moon. Astronomy educator Hunter Miller from the Adler Planetarium explained that this event, known as the Hunter's moon or beaver moon, coincides with clear skies, making for ideal viewing conditions.

The Adler Planetarium's Doane Observatory is open for public viewing, offering free admission to Illinois residents. In addition to the supermoon, visitors can observe Saturn, whose rings are currently edge-on, a rare occurrence that will not happen again for another 13 years.

Eyes to the sky! Supermoon lights up tonight

And our last photo this hour is talking about the supermoon. Have you got your eye on the sky? You better. The closest supermoon of the year is going to emerge tonight. Joining us to talk more about it this morning is astronomy educator Hunter Miller. He is with the Adler Planetarium. He's got the best hair in astronomy science, I tell you there. All right, Hunter, I've been doing this. This is my demonstration, and you're gonna give a more eloquent description of it, but I am doing, this is a super Kaplan. See what I'm doing here? And this is the regular Kaplan. Give us the description of what's going on. What makes it a supermoon? Well, that's a great way to describe it. So the moon's orbit is not a perfect circle. It's a bit of an oval shape. This means sometimes it's closer, sometimes it's further away. A supermoon occurs when that close point of the moon happens at the same time as a full moon, like we have tonight. So this means it appears bigger and brighter in the sky. About how much brighter is it really, and how much larger does it get? You know, I sometimes suspect that if people weren't told that it was a supermoon, that they might not even notice it. I think it's a fair point. You know, from the smallest a full moon can be to the biggest a full moon can be, it can be up to a 30% brightness difference. But from the average full moon, we're looking at maybe, you know, 12 to 15% brightness, and maybe about 8% larger. So those are decent numbers, but they might be a little tough to notice. But if this gets you outside to appreciate the night sky, then I'm happy either way. Exactly. Now, you and I were talking before we started this segment on the nicknames for the moons, and your name being Hunter, your favorite moon has got to be the Hunter's moon. Yeah, you know, people that are locked into their planetarium social media accounts might've seen some silly videos related to that. So this one would be a Hunter's moon because it is the first full moon after October's harvest moon, which was a little bit of a late harvest moon, later than usual, at least. This one you might also see called the beaver moon. That is what we often refer to for the November full moon, because this is the time of year when beavers are building their dams up, getting ready for the cold winter to come, as it looks like is maybe being displayed over this weekend. All right. What do you recommend people do, anything special in order to view this moon? You know, I always tell people, you know, this is a perfect time. You got that telescope a few years ago for Christmas that's sitting there as a dust collector somewhere. Pull that thing out and, you know, maybe take a look at some of the craters and look for some detail on the moon. Absolutely. If you've got the special tools, there's always fun details to see on the moon. But the great thing about a full moon like this is you don't need any special equipment. You can get out there wherever you are. It will be high in the sky, very big and bright. You'll have no problem seeing it. But if you want to take a look at it, along with some like-minded enthusiasts, come and visit me at the Adler Planetarium tonight. I'll be at the Doane Observatory. We'll be open from 7 to 10. We'll be observing things like that full moon, of course, but also Saturn that'll be up in the night sky tonight. And it's our Illinois resident discount day at the Adler. You can get into the planetarium for free if you are an Illinois resident. That's outstanding. You mentioned Saturn. A lot of people are going to be saying, oh, I can't wait to see the rings. You have to mention the fact that the rings are edge on right now, so it's not quite as spectacular as it usually is. Well, hey, it may not be as spectacular as rings tilted towards us, but that's a very rare opportunity. It won't be like this again for like 13 more years. So good chance to catch some edge on Saturn rings and maybe even see a few of its moons as well. All right, Hunter, good luck. Get a big crowd out there tonight taking a look at that super moon. Weather's going to be perfect. Skies are going to be clear. So, you know, sometimes these great astronomical events are plagued with cloud cover. That's not going to be the case tonight. Thanks for joining us this morning. Thanks so much for having me and thanks for bringing the clear skies. All right, you got it, Hunter.

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