Full moon calendar 2027 · South Africa
South Africa keeps SAST all year, so only three 2027 full moons fall on a different date from UTC lists, each just after midnight in February, April and September. Two penumbral lunar eclipses are visible, one on the evening of 18 July, and Cape Town sees a tiny partial solar eclipse at dusk on 6 February.
First full moon of 2027 here: Friday, January 22, 14:17 SAST.
Every full moon of 2027 in local time, daylight saving included. Highlighted dates fall on a different day than in UTC: Snow Moon, Pink Moon, Harvest Moon.
| Full moon | Local date and time | Sign |
|---|---|---|
| Wolf Moon | Fri, Jan 22, 14:17 SAST | ♌︎ Leo |
| Snow Moon | Sun, Feb 21, 01:24 SAST | ♍︎ Virgo |
| Worm Moon | Mon, Mar 22, 12:44 SAST | ♎︎ Libra |
| Pink Moon | Wed, Apr 21, 00:27 SAST | ♏︎ Scorpio |
| Flower Moon | Thu, May 20, 12:59 SAST | ♏︎ Scorpio |
| Strawberry Moon | Sat, Jun 19, 02:45 SAST | ♐︎ Sagittarius |
| Buck Moon | Sun, Jul 18, 17:45 SAST | ♑︎ Capricorn |
| Sturgeon Moon | Tue, Aug 17, 09:29 SAST | ♒︎ Aquarius |
| Harvest Moon | Thu, Sep 16, 01:04 SAST | ♓︎ Pisces |
| Hunter’s Moon | Fri, Oct 15, 15:47 SAST | ♈︎ Aries |
| Beaver Moon | Sun, Nov 14, 05:26 SAST | ♉︎ Taurus |
| Cold Moon | Mon, Dec 13, 18:09 SAST | ♊︎ Gemini |
Moonrise on the evening of each full moon, in local time. When the exact full moment falls before dawn, the table uses the evening before, when the Moon already looks full. The last column is how high the Moon climbs over Johannesburg.
| Full moon | Evening | Johannesburg | Pretoria | Durban | Cape Town | Gqeberha | Bloemfontein | Height over Johannesburg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf Moon | Fri, Jan 22 | 19:15 | 19:13 | 19:10 | 20:11 | 19:41 | 19:29 | 44° |
| Snow Moon | Sat, Feb 20 | 18:29 | 18:28 | 18:21 | 19:17 | 18:48 | 18:40 | 53° |
| Worm Moon | Mon, Mar 22 | 18:10 | 18:09 | 17:56 | 18:45 | 18:16 | 18:16 | 70° |
| Pink Moon | Tue, Apr 20 | 17:16 | 17:16 | 16:59 | 17:44 | 17:15 | 17:20 | 80° |
| Flower Moon | Thu, May 20 | 17:15 | 17:16 | 16:54 | 17:34 | 17:05 | 17:16 | 90° |
| Strawberry Moon | Fri, Jun 18 | 16:49 | 16:50 | 16:27 | 17:06 | 16:36 | 16:49 | 89° |
| Buck Moon | Sun, Jul 18 | 17:28 | 17:28 | 17:07 | 17:50 | 17:20 | 17:29 | 85° |
| Sturgeon Moon | Tue, Aug 17 | 18:04 | 18:03 | 17:48 | 18:36 | 18:06 | 18:09 | 73° |
| Harvest Moon | Wed, Sep 15 | 17:43 | 17:42 | 17:30 | 18:22 | 17:52 | 17:50 | 63° |
| Hunter’s Moon | Fri, Oct 15 | 18:18 | 18:17 | 18:11 | 19:09 | 18:39 | 18:30 | 48° |
| Beaver Moon | Sun, Nov 14 | 19:10 | 19:08 | 19:07 | 20:11 | 19:41 | 19:25 | 38° |
| Cold Moon | Mon, Dec 13 | 19:00 | 18:58 | 18:58 | 20:03 | 19:33 | 19:16 | 37° |
Winter full moons pass almost straight overhead in South Africa. From Johannesburg the full moon of 20 May reaches 90 degrees, and June and July follow at 89 and 85 degrees, so the Moon lights the landscape from high above on long winter nights. Summer full moons stay much lower, at 38 degrees in November and 37 degrees in December. Durban, Gqeberha and Cape Town lie further south than Johannesburg and Pretoria, so the Moon sits a little lower there all year, most noticeably in summer, when it can hide behind mountains and buildings. For moonwatching, April to August combines high moons with long nights. The closest full moon of 2027, 357,635 km away, rises over Johannesburg at 19:15 SAST on 22 January.
Time zones
South Africa uses South African Standard Time (SAST), two hours ahead of UTC, all year with no daylight saving, so moon times never jump by an hour. The February full moon at 01:24 SAST on 21 February, the April full moon at 00:27 SAST on 21 April and the September full moon at 01:04 SAST on 16 September all fall just after midnight, so UTC lists show the day before and the evening before is the one to watch. North American calendars also differ in June and November, showing the 18th and 13th, while South Africa has 19 June and 14 November. The black moon of 2027 falls on 31 August here, as in UTC lists.
| New moon | Local date and time | Sign |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | Thu, Jan 7, 22:25 SAST | ♑︎ Capricorn |
| February 6 | Sat, Feb 6, 17:56 SAST | ♒︎ Aquarius |
| March 8 | Mon, Mar 8, 11:30 SAST | ♓︎ Pisces |
| April 7 | Wed, Apr 7, 01:51 SAST | ♈︎ Aries |
| May 6 | Thu, May 6, 12:59 SAST | ♉︎ Taurus |
| June 4 | Fri, Jun 4, 21:40 SAST | ♊︎ Gemini |
| July 4 | Sun, Jul 4, 05:02 SAST | ♋︎ Cancer |
| August 2 | Mon, Aug 2, 12:05 SAST | ♌︎ Leo |
| August 31 | Tue, Aug 31, 19:41 SAST | ♍︎ Virgo |
| September 30 | Thu, Sep 30, 04:36 SAST | ♎︎ Libra |
| October 29 | Fri, Oct 29, 15:37 SAST | ♏︎ Scorpio |
| November 28 | Sun, Nov 28, 05:24 SAST | ♐︎ Sagittarius |
| December 27 | Mon, Dec 27, 22:12 SAST | ♑︎ Capricorn |
Eclipses
Two penumbral lunar eclipses are visible from all six listed cities: greatest eclipse at 01:12 SAST on 21 February and at 18:02 SAST on 18 July, shortly after moonrise in Johannesburg. Both are subtle, a faint shading, not a red moon. The annular eclipse of 6 February is a tiny partial eclipse here: 2.3% in Cape Town at 18:57 SAST with the Sun 9 degrees up and 0.8% in Gqeberha, while further north greatest eclipse comes at or after sunset. Never look at the Sun without eclipse glasses that meet ISO 12312-2. The next total lunar eclipse visible from all six cities peaks at 05:22 SAST on 26 June 2029.
| Eclipse | Local date | Seen from |
|---|---|---|
| Annular solar eclipse | February 6, 2027 | Johannesburg 5.8%, Pretoria 6.3%, Durban 2.2%, Cape Town 2.3%, Gqeberha 0.8%, Bloemfontein 3.7% |
| Total solar eclipse | August 2, 2027 | Not visible |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse | Sunday, February 21, 2027, 01:12 SAST | All listed cities |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse | Sunday, July 18, 2027, 18:02 SAST | All listed cities |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse | Tuesday, August 17, 2027, 09:13 SAST | Moon below the horizon |
| Total lunar eclipse | Sunday, December 31, 2028, 18:51 SAST | Moon below the horizon |
| Total lunar eclipse | Tuesday, June 26, 2029, 05:22 SAST | All listed cities |
| Total lunar eclipse | Friday, December 21, 2029, 00:41 SAST | All listed cities |
Local moon culture
Moon names on international calendars follow northern seasons, so in South Africa the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumn equinox, is the March full moon. In 2027 the equinox falls on 20 March and the full moon on 22 March at 12:44 SAST, the same day as the Human Rights Day public holiday, which moves to Monday because 21 March is a Sunday. The dates of Good Friday and Easter are set by the ecclesiastical moon, and in 2027 Good Friday is 26 March and Family Day is 29 March, both in early autumn. The September full moon that northern lists call the Harvest Moon comes here a week before the spring equinox.
In the 1870s ǀXam San narrators in Cape Town shared stories that Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd wrote down and published in 1911, and several are about the Moon. In one, the Moon tells the Hare not to mourn his mother, because like the Moon she will return to life. The Hare refuses to believe it, the angry Moon splits his lip, and from then on people who die do not come back. The narrators also described greeting the new crescent with a prayer asking to share the Moon’s power of returning alive, and a hunting custom of not looking at the Moon after shooting game. These are the traditions of individual ǀXam narrators, not one belief shared by all San peoples.
Where to watch
An International Dark Sky Sanctuary since 2019, on land next to and within the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that was restored to the ǂKhomani San and Mier communities in 2002. It is managed jointly by those communities and the national parks authority.
The South African Astronomical Observatory runs all of its current research telescopes here for the dark Karoo skies, including SALT, the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. Visits to Sutherland can be arranged.
Far from urban light pollution, it hosts public observing evenings where staff guide visitors through the telescopes and point out objects in the night sky.
A research station of the University of the Free State 26 km east of Bloemfontein, with a science education centre, public open evenings and telescope viewing.
FAQ
The first full moon of 2027 in South Africa is the Wolf Moon on Friday, January 22, 2027 at 14:17 SAST. It is also the closest full moon of the year, a supermoon at 357,635 km.
the Snow Moon (February 21), the Pink Moon (April 21), the Harvest Moon (September 16). Calendars that list UTC or US dates show a different day for these moons.
On SAST the 2027 full moons fall on 22 January, 21 February, 22 March, 21 April, 20 May, 19 June, 18 July, 17 August, 16 September, 15 October, 14 November and 13 December. The February, April and September full moons come just after midnight, so the best time to look is the evening before, on 20 February, 20 April and 15 September.
Yes. Penumbral lunar eclipses peak at 01:12 SAST on 21 February and 18:02 SAST on 18 July, with the Moon above the horizon in all six listed cities, though both are subtle. On 6 February Cape Town sees a 2.3% partial solar eclipse at 18:57 SAST, low in the west. The total solar eclipse of 2 August is not visible here. Use certified eclipse glasses for any solar eclipse.
In the southern hemisphere the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. In 2027 the equinox falls on 20 March and the full moon follows on 22 March at 12:44 SAST, which is also the Human Rights Day public holiday. Northern calendars give the name to the September full moon, which arrives in South Africa at 01:04 SAST on 16 September, in spring.
There is no monthly blue moon in 2027; the last was on 31 May 2026 and the next is on 31 December 2028. There is a black moon, the second new moon in one calendar month: August has new moons on 2 August and 31 August, at 19:41 SAST. That differs from Australia and New Zealand, where the black moon falls on 30 September.
Other countries: UK, India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand. For every other time zone, see the full moon calendar 2027.