Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, October 6 and 7, 2025, written by Alan French
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, October 6 and 7, 2025, written by Alan French.
The Sun rises at 6:59 A.M. on Wednesday and sets at 6:29 P.M. On Thursday it rises at 7:00 A.M. and sets at 6:27 P.M.
A full Moon rises at 6:07 P.M. on Monday in the east. With a good foreground, the rising full Moon is a fine subject for photographers.
Although the Moon looks quite full all night, the official time of full Moon is when it is directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. Monday’s Moon reaches full at 11:48 P.M. At the time of full Moon, it will be 52 ½ degrees above the south southeastern horizon. Sometimes the Moon is not even in our sky when it reaches full. The November 5 full Moon will be full at 8:19 A.M. and does not rise here until 4:28 P.M.
Reaching perigee at 9 A.M. on Wednesday, the Moon is full less than two days before reaching perigee, its closest point to the Earth, and appears larger than normal. This is often called a supermoon in the press and on social media. The full Moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter when closest to Earth than when farthest away. The smallest full Moon, when near apogee, is sometimes called a micromoon.
According to ChatGPT, the shortest plausible time, based on current data, between a full micromoon and a full supermoon, is about 206 days, so memory can be unreliable at making comparisons. Photographers have done photographic comparisons showing the size difference between full Moons near perigee and apogee. Exposure data can give a measure of the brightness difference.
The term supermoon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 in the Dell horoscope magazine. It is not official but has seen increasing use in the age of the internet. Any full Moon looks lovely and is photogenic, especially when near the horizon.
Tuesday’s Moon, 99% full, rises at 6:31 P.M. toward the east northeast. By 8 P.M. it will be 15 degrees above the eastern horizon in the constellation Pisces. It will be due south and highest at 12:42 A.M. Wednesday morning.