The harvest moon is September’s full moon. The next one is full on Thursday 16 September 2027 at 12:04am BST.
What is the September full moon called?
The Harvest Moon. In the words of Royal Museums Greenwich: September’s full corn moon is so called because this is when crops are gathered at the end of the summer season. This moon is also sometimes named the barley moon, and it is often the nearest full moon to the autumnal equinox, earning the title of harvest moon.
Watching the harvest moon from the UK
The Harvest Moon is the one with a genuine astronomical quirk behind the folklore. Around the autumn equinox the Moon rises only a little later each night, instead of the usual hour or so, so there are several evenings running with a bright moon close to sunset. That is what made it useful to people working late in the fields.
The equinox effect makes September different from every other month. On a normal night the Moon rises about fifty minutes later than the night before; around the harvest moon, at UK latitudes, that gap narrows to nearer half an hour. Several evenings running therefore have a big moon low in the east not long after sunset. That's all the folklore says, and it's true.
How high the harvest moon climbs
From Greenwich on the night of 15 to 16 September 2027, 5 of 2027’s full moons climb higher than the harvest moon and 6 stay lower.
| Harvest Moon rises | 6:47pm, east |
|---|---|
| Harvest Moon at its highest | 12:50am, 38° up, due south |
| Harvest Moon sets | 7:09am, west |
| Time above the horizon | 12 hours for the Harvest Moon |
| Sun at 12:50am | 36° below the horizon |
Also in the September sky
The autumn equinox falls around 22 September. The Square of Pegasus rises in the east in the evening, and from a dark site the Andromeda Galaxy is just visible to the naked eye off one corner of it.
For September’s meteor dates and how much the Moon gets in the way, see UK meteor showers and the Moon.
What people get wrong about the harvest moon
That the harvest moon is always in September. It is the full moon nearest the autumn equinox, so roughly every three years it lands in October instead, and September's takes the corn moon name in its place. 2026 is a September year.
Searching for it? The plain phrase “harvest moon” mostly returns the Nintendo game and the Neil Young song. Adding the year gets past that.
Harvest Moon dates, London time
- 2026: Saturday 26 September 2026 at 5:49pm (BST)
- 2027: Thursday 16 September 2027 at 12:04am (BST)
The 2026 harvest moon time is from NASA and the Royal Observatory; 2027 is NASA only until the Observatory publishes.
In 2027 the harvest moon falls on Thursday 16 September 2027. Why named full moons drift.
The harvest moon in the sequence
In 2026 the harvest moon is the tenth of 13 full moons. It comes after the Sturgeon Moon (Friday 28 August 2026), and the Hunter's Moon follows it on Monday 26 October 2026. On the nights either side of the harvest moon the Moon isn’t quite full: it’s a waxing, then a waning, gibbous, and the eight phases of the Moon explains both.
Any moon print can be checked the same way, harvest moon or not: how to tell an accurate moon phase print.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .
