Supermoon 2026-2028: Dates, Distance and Size in IST

Four full moons in a row, from Kartik Purnima 2026 to Magh Purnima 2027, come close enough to the Earth to be called supermoons. The first is at 20:23 IST on 24 November 2026, with the Moon 3,60,765 km away. The closest of them, and of the whole of 2026, is at 06:58 IST on 24 December 2026: 3,56,738 km. Then come 22 January 2027 at 3,57,644 km and 21 February 2027 at 3,63,306 km. After that, no full moon reaches the same mark until 12 January 2028.

“Supermoon” is a modern word for a full moon that falls when the Moon is near the closest point of its orbit, and lists that use it do not all draw the line in the same place. It is not a term of the panchang. The Purnima is defined by angle, not distance: it ends at the instant the Moon stands opposite the Sun, near or far. So this page prints the distance itself, then applies one stated rule and shows how close each month comes to its line.

What Counts as a Supermoon Here

The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse, so once a month it passes a nearest point, perigee, and about two weeks later a farthest point, apogee. Neither is fixed. Across 2026 to 2028 the 40 perigees range from 3,56,650 to 3,70,135 km and the apogees from 4,04,169 to 4,06,607 km. A full moon can fall anywhere on that orbit, and the full moon and the perigee drift in and out of step over a little more than a year.

For each full moon the table below takes the perigee and the apogee nearest to it in time and asks how far along the way from that apogee to that perigee the full moon stands. At 0% it is at apogee; at 100% it is at perigee. The rule this page applies is 90% or more. A list that measures against a different perigee, or uses a flat distance cut, will agree on the clear cases and can differ on months near the line, which is why the percentage is printed beside every verdict. The full moon of 26 October 2026, just past, was one of those: it sat at 88.9%, a little under.

Distances are from the centre of the Earth to the centre of the Moon, from the JPL DE421 ephemeris. Before writing them, the generator reproduced to the minute all 38 full-moon instants of 2026 to 2028 that the site’s calendar already carries, so each full moon here is the same instant at which the site’s Purnima ends.

Every Full Moon, November 2026 to December 2027

The “along the way to perigee” column shows the drift. The full moon lands nearest perigee in the December 2026 and January 2027 rows, and by July 2027 it lands near apogee. The only month of 2027’s second half that comes close to the line again is 13 December 2027, at 89.9%, which a list with a slightly looser cut could count.

24 December 2026: The Closest of the Year

Of the four, the December full moon is the nearest. The perigee comes 7 hours after the full moon, at 14:01 IST, and at 3,56,650 km it is also the closest perigee of 2026. The full moon itself falls at 06:58 in the morning, Indian time, so neither Indian evening holds the exact moment. On 23 December 2026 the Moon rises at 16:36 at New Delhi, before the 17:29 sunset, and on 24 December 2026 at 17:47, after a 17:30 sunset. The Datta Jayanti 2026 page works out which day the Margashirsha Purnima observance is kept on, which is a separate question from the full-moon instant.

The November full moon, at 3,60,765 km, is 4,027 km farther than December’s, a difference of about 1.1% in the width of the disc as measured from the centre of the Earth. It falls at 20:23, after a 17:24 sunset, on the Kartik Purnima evening itself, with the Moon up since 16:56. The Kartik Purnima 2026 page has that day and its Dev Deepawali evening.

Moonrise on the Evenings Around the Four

For anyone who wants to watch one rise, the table below gives New Delhi moonrise and sunset on the last evening before each of the four full moons and the first evening after it, read off the site’s Purnima moonrise table, which also gives twelve cities for the next three Purnimas. Moonrise is the moment the upper edge of the disc clears the horizon. Whether the Moon is seen at that moment depends on cloud, haze and whatever stands to the east.

Of the four, the January full moon comes nearest in time to a New Delhi moonrise: the full moon is at 17:47 on 22 January 2027 and the Moon rises at 17:46, a minute earlier. That is the Paush Purnima evening. The February full moon comes before dawn on 21 February 2027; the Magh Purnima 2027 page gives the day the calendar keeps for it.

How Much Bigger Does a Supermoon Look?

The Moon’s width in the sky goes as one over its distance (from the centre of the Earth here; an observer’s own distance to the Moon shifts slightly as it climbs), so the comparison is a ratio of kilometres. Over 2026 to 2028 the nearest full moon is 10 February 2028 at 3,56,721 km and the farthest is 4 September 2028 at 4,06,158 km. The near one is about 14% wider and covers about 30% more sky. Closer at hand the figure is almost the same: the December 2026 full moon is about 14% wider than the farthest full moon of 2027, on 18 July 2027.

Those two are about seven months apart, and no one sees them side by side. From one of the four to the next, the width changes by under 2%.

2026, 2027 and 2028 at a Glance

• 2026: at 90% or more on 3 Jan (3,62,312 km), 24 Nov (3,60,765 km), 24 Dec (3,56,738 km). Nearest full moon 24 Dec, farthest 31 May (4,06,135 km).
• 2027: at 90% or more on 22 Jan (3,57,644 km), 21 Feb (3,63,306 km). Nearest full moon 22 Jan, farthest 18 Jul (4,05,979 km).
• 2028: at 90% or more on 12 Jan (3,60,268 km), 10 Feb (3,56,721 km), 11 Mar (3,58,071 km), 9 Apr (3,63,866 km). Nearest full moon 10 Feb, farthest 4 Sep (4,06,158 km).

The run of close full moons comes round about every thirteen and a half months. The nearest in the table above is 24 December 2026, and the next to come as close, a little closer in fact, is 10 February 2028, 414 days later. That is why 2027 has only two that pass the rule, both in its first two months, and 2028 has four, in its first four. The closest perigee of the three years is 14:01 IST on 24 December 2026, 3,56,650 km.

Blue Moon: The Next One Is in 2028

A blue moon, in the calendar sense, is the second full moon in one month. By Indian time, 2026 has had one: full moons fell on 1 May 2026 and again on 31 May 2026. That second May full moon was also the farthest of 2026, at 4,06,135 km, so it was the year’s smallest-looking full moon too. 2027 has twelve full moons, one in each month, and so no blue moon. The next is 22:18 IST on 31 December 2028, after one on 2 December 2028; at 75.5% along the way to perigee it is not a supermoon. A full moon that comes late on the last day of a month can fall on the first of the next month in a time zone further east, so lists made for other countries can name other months.

In Brief

• Next supermoon: 20:23 IST on 24 November 2026, Kartik Purnima, 3,60,765 km
• Closest of 2026: 06:58 IST on 24 December 2026, 3,56,738 km
• Then: 22 January 2027 (3,57,644 km) and 21 February 2027 (3,63,306 km)
• After that: none at 90% or more until 12 January 2028
• Nearest against farthest: about 14% wider, 30% more area
• Next blue moon: 31 December 2028

The Moon also moves fastest near perigee, which is part of why its stay in one nakshatra varies, as the how long the Moon stays in a nakshatra page measures. Purnima dates and vrat days for each month are on the Purnima 2027 list, the crescents after each new moon on the Chandra Darshan page, and the year’s observances on the festival calendar. In Hindi: सुपरमून 2026-2028: तारीख, दूरी और आकार.