Full Moon Tonight: Hunter's Moon Peaks Oct 26 at 12:12 A.M. EDT

Searches for "full moon tonight" sat at the top of Google Trends in the United States on Saturday, and the moon people are looking for is the Hunter's Moon. It reaches peak illumination at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 26, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. The best time to watch is earlier than the peak. Sunday evening, October 25, is the prime viewing window, when the moon rises in the east around sunset and looks full all night.

No telescope is needed. The Almanac advises finding a place with a clear, unobstructed view of the eastern horizon and looking for the moon around sunset on Sunday. The moon will appear full and bright through Sunday night, and nearly full on the evenings directly before and after the peak.

Sunday's moonrise times underline the sunset rule. The moon rises at 5:27 p.m. in New York, 5:40 p.m. in Los Angeles and 5:42 p.m. in Toronto, according to the rise time tables published for this weekend. Caught low on the horizon, the rising moon can look bigger and more orange than usual before it climbs and brightens.

Why this one is the Hunter's Moon

The Hunter's Moon is the traditional name for the full moon that follows the Harvest Moon. This year the September full moon, which peaked on September 26, was the Harvest Moon, the one closest to the fall equinox, so October's full moon takes the Hunter's name. The name reflects the season. After the harvest, communities prepared food for winter, and bright moonlight helped with hunting and other outdoor work once the fields had cleared and the leaves had fallen.

Other traditional names for the October moon include Drying Rice Moon in Dakota tradition, Falling Leaves Moon in Anishinaabe tradition, Freezing Moon in Ojibwe tradition, Ice Moon in Haida tradition and Migrating Moon in Cree tradition, a reference to birds moving south.

Saturn keeps it company, and Halloween just misses out

Saturn sits near the moon in the night sky this weekend, close enough to pick out with the naked eye on the nights around the full moon, according to BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Binoculars or a telescope bring out the planet's colour, and a telescope can show its rings.

October's full moon is not a supermoon. The next supermoon falls on November 24. It also just misses Halloween. By October 31 the moon will be a waning gibbous, and a full moon on Halloween is rare. The Old Farmer's Almanac puts the next one on October 31, 2039.