There “super wolf moon” it is the event that will kick off a rich 2026 of astronomical shows. This “supermoon”, a term that indicates the concomitance of a full moon and lunar perigee, will in fact occur on January 3precisely at 11:02 Italian time when the Moon reaches its full phase 100% lighting. Although this happens during the day, full Moons tend to appear full Moons at least one day before and one day after the exact date of 100% illumination, so the visibility range of the event is quite wide. You will then be able to enjoy the show ad naked eye from every part of Italy. To be able to observe a new “supermoon” we will have to wait until end of 2026, when the “supermoons” of November 24 and December 24 make their appearance.
How to observe the “Super Wolf Moon” in the sky on January 3 and at what time
There “super wolf moon” owes its name to the Native American tradition contained in theOld Farmer’s Almanac to give proper names to the Full Moons of each month. The exact time of 100% illumination of the lunar disk is January 3 at 11:02 am EThowever, when the Moon will be below the horizon from our latitudes. At that moment, the Moon will be in the constellation Gemini shining, where visible, with a magnitude equal to -12.7. The moment of maximum approach on Earth, however, the January 1st at 10.44pm Italian timewhen the Moon will be at one distance of 360.34 km from Earth. The combination of the full Moon and Earth-Moon proximity will make the Wolf’s “supermoon” about 6% larger and 13% brighter than a typical full Moon.
Despite this variation, the effect is too small to be observed with the naked eyetherefore requesting the comparison between two exposures of our satellite at the same observing conditions in order to be appreciated. We are in fact talking about variations of 1-2 arcminutesmuch smaller for example than the angular dimension of a thumb at arm’s length, which is instead a handful of degrees.
The next two “supermoons”
To be able to observe one new supermoon in 2026 we will have to wait for the end of the year, precisely November 24th and December 24th 2026. For the “supermoon” of November 24the phase of maximum is 3.53pmwhile the perigee on November 25th at 10pm. The “supermoon” of December 24th it will instead be the one in which the full Moon will appear brighter and angularly larger than the whole of 2026, since the The full moon and lunar perigee will be separated in time by only 7 hours. The Moon will be a 356,650 km from Earththe minimum distance reached by our natural satellite in all of 2026.
