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Tonight’s supermoon is just the beginning of an epic celestial line-up

Taylah Darnell Taylah Darnell
Australia is in for an astronomical end to the year.

Get ready Australia, the first supermoon of 2025 is lighting up our skies tonight. Known as the harvest moon, it’s also the beginning of a months-long lunar spectacle, with several more celestial events on the near-horizon.

What is a harvest moon?

Supermoon/Harvest Moon Australia
The harvest moon gets its name from the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox. (Image: Dave Xu/Unsplash)

The harvest moon gets its name from the northern hemisphere, representing the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox. Its bright light once helped farmers work late into the night, gathering their crops in time for a new season.

Characterised by its fully formed face and luminous orange glow, the harvest moon is also classified as a supermoon. And yes, this is different from a regular full moon. Just like Earth orbits the sun once a year, the moon orbits Earth roughly once a month. During this 27-day journey, sunlight hits different parts of the moon as it moves, taking it from a thin crescent to a perfect sphere or a full moon.

A supermoon only happens when that monthly full moon is also at its perigee – the point in its orbit closest to Earth. Sounds a bit complicated, right? In simple terms, a full moon is when the moon appears fully lit, but a supermoon is when it’s fully lit and at its closest point to Earth making it look bigger and brighter – like tonight!

How to see it

Supermoon/Harvest Moon Australia
The moon appears at its largest near the horizon. (Image: Film Plus Digital/Unsplash)

When it comes to most astronomical events, the southern hemisphere (and Australia in particular) doesn’t have too much luck. But tonight, the scales are firmly tipped in our favour. The harvest moon will be very easy for us to see – as long as it’s not overcast. It will rise around sunset in the eastern sky and will be visible all night before setting in the west come sunrise.

While the moon will technically reach peak fullness around 3:45am on Wednesday, it will appear at its largest during dusk on Tuesday due to a phenomenon called ‘moon illusion’. This trick of the eye makes the moon appear bigger when it is low on the horizon compared to when it is high in the sky, a visual effect photographers should take full advantage of.

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Other upcoming celestial events

Supermoon/Harvest Moon Australia
Australia is in for a months-long lunar spectacle. (Image: Ganapathy Kumar/Unsplash)

Our night sky has truly taken centre stage this year, from meteor showers like Eta Aquariids and the Perseids to a breathtaking strawberry moon in June and our first blood moon since 2022. And while the harvest moon might be stealing the spotlight tonight, it’s just the beginning of an epic celestial line-up.

Over the next three months, multiple astronomical events will light up our skies. After tonight’s harvest moon, there will be not one, but two more supermoons this year – both named after seasonal events in the northern hemisphere.

On 5 November, we’ll be treated to the Beaver Moon. Its name is drawn from Native American folklore, a symbol of the busy beavers readying their homes for winter’s arrival. Come 4 December, the third and final supermoon of 2025 will rise. Known as the Cold Moon, it marks the arrival of the north’s coldest and darkest months. For us, it’s more of a farewell!

Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)
C/2025 R2 (SWAN) was only discovered a few weeks ago. (Image: Adam Block)

But that’s not all. A recently discovered comet known as C/2025 R2 (SWAN) will be passing Earth this October. While you’ll need binoculars to catch a glimpse of its bright green glow and exceptionally long tail, it’ll definitely be worth it, as SWAN won’t be back for another 600 years.

The excitement continues into 2026, with another supermoon scheduled for January and a total lunar eclipse in March. Best of all, you should be able to catch every single one from your balcony or backyard. It truly is a great time to be an Aussie astronomy lover.

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Taylah Darnell
Taylah Darnell is Australian Traveller's Writer & Producer. She has been passionate about writing since she learnt to read, spending many hours either lost in the pages of books or attempting to write her own. This life-long love of words inspired her to study a Bachelor of Communication majoring in Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney, where she completed two editorial internships. She began her full-time career in publishing at Ocean Media before scoring her dream job with Australian Traveller. Now as Writer & Producer, Taylah passionately works across both digital platforms and print titles. When she's not wielding a red pen over magazine proofs, you can find Taylah among the aisles of a second-hand bookshop, following a good nature trail or cheering on her EPL team at 3am. While she's keen to check out places like Scotland and North America, her favourite place to explore will always be her homeland.
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Victoria’s surprising new outdoor adventure hotspot

    Craig Tansley Craig Tansley
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    A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination. 

    There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.  

    old gold bank Victoria
    Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time. 

    It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.  

    Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital 

    Creswick bike trail
    This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

    Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria. 

    I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers. 

    I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.  

    The Woodlands
    The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides. 

    A traveller’s checklist 

    Staying there 

    1970s log cabin
    Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife. 

    Eating there 

    Le Peche Gourmand
    Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

    The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand. The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857. 

    Playing there 

    Miss NorthcottsGarden
    Miss Northcotts Garden is a charming garden store with tea room. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.