'Brightest and biggest' supermoon in recent memory to be visible until Thursday

Tue, 04 Nov, 2025 - 07:49

Steven Heaney

Irish stargazers will be hoping for clear skies over the coming days, ahead of what is expected to be the largest supermoon of the year.

A supermoon occurs when the full moon happens at the same time that the moon is at its closest to Earth during its elliptical orbit around our planet.

This phenomenon, which is also known as a Beaver moon when it occurs in November, leads to the moon appearing 30% brighter in the night sky.

According to Astronomy Ireland, the supermoon will be visible to stargazers each night between Tuesday night and Thursday night, and it has the potential to be the "brightest and biggest" in recent memory.

It says the moon will be considered technically full on Wednesday afternoon by 1.19pm Irish time, though it will continue to appear "full" to the naked eye a for day or two either side of this.

When the moon rises at sunset on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Astronomy Ireland said people will have "a number of chances to snap the moon in a hopefully clear sky".

Cloudy skies ahead

Whether the skies will stay clear enough to ensure maximum supermoon visibility is another question, however.

According to the latest forecast from Met Éireann, Tuesday night will unfortunately "be cloudy and misty with areas of fog".

"There'll be scattered showers at first and it will become wet overnight as spells of rain move northwards across the country," the forecaster said.
However, it will be mild with temperatures falling to lows of 10C to 13C.

Wednesday is expected to be a wet day with widespread rain, which will turn heavy in some western areas.

The rain will gradually clear northwards, and it will be drier for the afternoon and evening with just patches of light rain or drizzle. There will also be some mist and fog, with highest temperatures ranging from 13C to 16C.

In more bad news for stargazers, it will remain largely cloudy on Wednesday night, amid further patches of light rain and drizzle. Temperatures on Wednesday night will fall back to around 9C to 13C.

Met Éireann says Thursday will see a "mostly cloudy and misty start to the day, with rain in northern areas and isolated showers elsewhere".

"The rain and mist will clear during the morning and the cloud will gradually clear eastwards too, leaving sunny spells and just isolated showers."

Stargazers may have the best chance to snap a photo of the supermoon on Thursday night, with Met Éireann saying "dry and clear at first".

"Cloud and outbreaks of rain will move into the west and southwest overnight and moderate to fresh southeasterly winds will develop," Met Éireann added.

Astronomy Ireland editor David Moore has urged stargazers to share any pictures they get of the supermoon with the society to be in with a chance of having their photo featured in the magazine and to be archived in the National Library of Ireland.

"As well as alerting all eight million people on this island to this wonderful supermoon rising on Wednesday evening, we are asking the general public to line up the moon with interesting objects or landscapes in the foreground and send their best snap to be published in Astronomy Ireland magazine, which will be archived in the National Library of Ireland for all time," he said.

"Camera phones are now very powerful and capable of producing superb night sky photographs like this. We have received many camera phone Moon photographs and other celestial sights like 2024's great Northern Lights displays in May and October of that year.

"As it is rising and low down, people can line up the supermoon with statues, landmarks, buildings, aircraft, birds, landscapes, mountains, standing stones, ships and seascapes and more to produce stunning photographs which we would be delighted to feature in the pages of Astronomy Ireland magazine."

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