The second “supermoon” of 2025 will light up the sky on Wednesday 5 November 2025: the “super beaver moon”, so called following Native American tradition, will be the largest and brightest of the year and it will appear about the 7.9% bigger and the 16% brighter than a normal full Moon due to its proximity to the Earth.
The Moon will reach the full moon at 2.19pm (Italian time), while around 11.27pm will arrive at perigeei.e. the point of closest approach of our satellite to the Earth, when it will be at approximately 357,000 km from us. Being particularly close to our planet, the effect of this full Moon will be slightly more visible than the latest “supermoons”: to find a better “supermoon” we have to go back 6 years, to February 19, 2019, even if the distance was only 134 km less than tomorrow’s. During the night, then, we will also be able to observe the two gas giants of the Solar System, Jupiter And Saturn.
That of November 5th constitutes the second of three consecutive “supermoons”. which will put on a show in our skies: the first, the “super hunter’s moon” was last October 7th, while the last, the “cold supermoon” will be visible on December 4th. In fact, not all full Moons have the same size: during its orbit around the Earth, our satellite is not always at the same distance from us, but its distance can vary by more than 10% compared to the average Earth-Moon distance.
When and how to observe the “supermoon” in the sky on November 5 from Italy
Tomorrow November 5, the Moon will reach the full moon around 2.19pm (Italian time), and then sturn east at approximately 4:36 p.m: at that point it will already be visible even if the Sun has not yet set, and then rises as it gradually moves south. At 11.27pm, the Moon will reach perigee, its closest approach to the Earth, at 356,980 km from our Planet.
The combination of the full moon and the perigee, therefore, will give rise to this “supermoon”, a term used journalistically to indicate a Full moon near perigeetherefore larger and brighter than the common one given the shorter distance from our planet.
But what will it be? best time to observe the “super beaver moon,” which will appear about 7.9% larger and 16% brighter than a normal full Moon? The advice is to observe it Soonwhen it is still relatively low on the horizon, so as to have a spatial reference: the presence of buildings, reliefs or other elements will help our eye to have a dimensional comparison that will allow us to better appreciate the apparent dimensions of the Moon. Once it is high in the sky, however, we will no longer have gods physical references to compare its size and, therefore, on a perceptual level it will seem smaller.
In the sky, among other things, we will also be able to observe Saturn (visible until just after sunset), which will be to the right of the Moon, at 18° due south, and Jupiterwhich will instead rise around 9.40pm and will be to the left of the Moon, about 20° eastwards.
Because the “beaver moon” will appear bigger and brighter than usual this year
If 12 or 13 full moons occur every year, the so-called “supermoons” occur only when the full moon phase occurs when our satellite is in the part of its orbit close to the perigeethat is, during maximum proximity to the Earth.
But why aren’t full Moons always the same size in the sky? The reason lies in Kepler’s first lawwhich establishes how an orbiting body always designs an orbit in the shape of an ellipse, that is – put simply – a more or less flattened curve.
This means that the Moon, during its orbit around the Earth, is not always at the same distance from our planet: its closest point (perigee) is located approximately 356,000 km from the Earth, while the farthest point (apogee) reaches i 406,000 km about. In short, compared to the average distance which is 384,400 km, the distance varies by 12-15%a considerable change.
The Moon, however, can reach the full phase at any point of its orbit: when it does so near perigee it will appear a little larger (up to 15%) and a little brighter (up to 30%) than usual and, precisely in this case, we will talk about a “supermoon”.
