Did you see the full moon on Saturday night? September’s full Harvest Moon rose around the world during dusk on Saturday, Sept. 26, creating dramatic views as the orange full moon appeared above eastern horizons with Saturn, now just a week from its annual opposition. However, thanks to the habit of the Harvest Moon to rise close to sunset on successive nights, there’s another chance to see it on Sunday night. Here are some of the best images of September’s Harvest Moon from around the world.

September’s Harvest Moon became officially full at 16:49 UTC, or 12:49 p.m. EDT, on Saturday, Sept. 26.

The full moon closest to the autumn equinox — this year on Sept. 23 — always gets the name Harvest Moon. It rises near sunset on consecutive nights, historically providing extra light to help farmers harvest crops in the Northern Hemisphere.

Saturn appeared nearby, while much fainter Neptune was also in the same region of the sky. Another near-full moonrise will occur Sunday evening, Sept. 27.

CLOSEST FULL MOON TO EQUINOX

The Harvest Moon is always the closest full moon to the fall equinox, which occurred on September 23. It marks the point when the midday sun is directly above the equator, giving every location on the planet 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

WHY DID THE HARVEST MOON LOOK ORANGE?

Many photographs of the Harvest Moon show it glowing orange, yellow or even red close to the horizon. That isn’t a special property of the Harvest Moon. When the moon is close to the horizon, its reflected sunlight has to pass through more of Earth’s atmosphere before reaching an observer. Shorter blue wavelengths are scattered more efficiently, allowing proportionally more red and orange light to reach the eye. The same physics helps create colorful sunsets.

WHY DID THE HARVEST MOON LOOK SO BIG?

Images taken as the moon rose may also make it appear enormous beside buildings, trees and mountains. Some of that apparent size is the familiar “moon illusion,” in which the human brain perceives the moon as larger when it is close to familiar objects on the horizon. It’s an optical illusion that lasts only a few minutes — as soon as the full moon has risen above the horizon, that context and those comparisons are lost. The full moon appears to shrink.

The other notable sight was Saturn. Saturn was readily visible to the naked eye beside the brilliant moon, thanks to it reaching opposition on Oct. 4, when Earth passes between Saturn and the sun. That will put the ringed planet at its brightest and best for 2026.

Missed Saturday’s moonrise? Sunday evening offers another opportunity. This is where the Harvest Moon earns its name. Around the autumn equinox, the moon’s orbital path meets the eastern horizon at a shallow angle for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. That means successive moonrises occur closer together than usual. In New York, for example, the moon rises at 6:58 p.m. EDT Sunday, only 24 minutes later than it did Saturday. It will remain about 99.6% illuminated. It’s a similar story for Los Angeles, where the moon rises at 7:10 p.m. PDT. For exact timings for your location, check a moon calculator .