Full Beaver Moon Is The Biggest Supermoon Since 2019: What To Know

The full beaver moon on Wednesday is the second of three consecutive supermoons and will appear larger and brighter than most, depending on cloud cover.

Wednesday’s full moon will be the brightest and biggest supermoon since 2019, coming within just under 222,000 miles of Earth.

The moon doesn’t orbit Earth in a perfect circle, but rather moves nearer to and farther from our planet in its elliptical pattern. A supermoon happens when a full moon is closer to Earth in its orbit. That makes it appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the faintest full moon of the year, according to NASA.

The trio of supermoons ends with the full cold moon on Dec. 4.

November’s full moon is called the beaver moon because it’s the time of year when the namesake semiaquatic mammals move to their lodges, disappearing until spring. In the fall, before the water freezes, beavers store branches and other foodstuff in the underwater lodges, complex shelters built from the inside out with mud, grass and branches. They have an underwater entrance that most predators find impermeable, which also gives the beavers access to swim under the ice to get food.

Historically, the beaver moon also marks a prime season for trapping the animals, which were valued for the warmth of their pelts. The fur trade in North America began centuries before the arrival of Europeans in the mid-1600s and continued for nearly 200 years afterward.

• Related: 2025 Guide To Meteor Showers, Supermoons And Other Celestial Events

The second peak of the two-stream Taurids meteor shower is this weekend, Nov. 8-9, and the still-bright moon could be problematic. But fireballs could save the day for stargazers.

The Taurids are unique because they consist of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke.

Together, they run from about Sept. 28-Dec 2. Both streams are rich in fireballs, and are often responsible for increased numbers of fireball reports, according to the American Meteor Society. The South Taurids run from Sept.10 to Nov. 30, and the North Taurids from Oct. 13-Dec. 1.

The Leonids meteor shower started Nov. 3 and runs through Dec. 2. Its an average show with about 15 meteors an hour at its Nov. 18-19 peak — except during cyclonic peaks that occur about every 33 years, when hundreds of meteors an hour can be seen. It happened last in 2001, putting us years away from a similar show from this shower created by dust grains left behind by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, discovered in 1865.

Meteor experts say the Geminid meteor shower is hands-down the best in the heavens, producing 120 meteors at the Dec. 13-14 peak. The meteors are bright, fast and yellowish. Produced by debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, discovered in 1982, it runs from Nov. 19-Dec. 24.