Stargazers and photographers around the world turned their lenses toward the autumn sky overnight on October 25-26, 2026, capturing the full “Hunter’s Moon” in a series of striking compositions. The October lunar event, traditionally named for the historical period when hunters harvested fields in preparation for winter, dominated the night sky and inspired a diverse array of urban and natural imagery.
Photographer Bill Trojan documented the celestial event close to moonrise on October 25, capturing a detailed view of the lunar disk shortly before it reached its peak of 100% illumination, while glowing orange in the evening sky. In San Francisco, photographer Tayfun Coskun framed the near-full moon hanging balefully over the city’s downtown skyscrapers ahead of moonset on October 25. Coskun also captured a commercial passenger jet with its landing gear extended as it appeared to skim the upper edge of the illuminated lunar disk, leaving vapor trails behind.
Across the continent in the New York metropolitan area, veteran photographer Gary Hershorn positioned himself in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the night of October 25 to photograph the Hunter’s Moon rising directly behind the architecture of the Empire State Building. Days earlier on October 24, photographer Selcuk Acar captured the moon perfectly aligned to appear as though it were resting on the observation deck of a New York skyscraper at Hudson Yards.
International photographers similarly incorporated iconic local landmarks into their compositions. In Molfetta, Italy, Davide Pischettola photographed the moon looming behind the towers and stained-glass windows of the Basilica of the Madonna dei Martiri, with a wispy river of cloud framing the lunar sphere. In Turkey, photographer Sayim Harmanci placed Earth’s satellite at the center of a large neon star glowing in the city of Hakkari. Nearby in Istanbul, Salih Zeki Fazlioglu captured the moon gleaming in a red hue alongside the historic Galata Tower near the mouth of the Black Sea.
In South Florida, Lisa Shislowski photographed the Hunter’s Moon illuminating cloud cover and reflecting across the local waters in Plantation. Shislowski noted that the bright lunar display appeared adjacent to the lighthouse at the Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach, creating a striking contrast between natural and man-made beacons of illumination.
Looking ahead to the lunar cycle, the full moon in November will coincide with the moon reaching its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit. This upcoming alignment will produce a supermoon capable of appearing up to 14% larger and shining up to 30% brighter than the year’s smallest full moon.
