In this Strange yearAnother very unusual event is on our way. Geoffrey Hunt, a professor of astronomy and former Planetarium Director, said that this year’s Halloween full moon will be visible to the entire world, not just parts of it, for the first time since World War II.

“When I was studying, high school students thought that a full moon happens every Halloween,” Hunt told me. Not quite, although pop culture decor definitely makes it look this way. He said the last Halloween full moon visible around the world came in 1944. He has written about the event on his website, When curves are lined up. There was a Halloween full moon at some locations in 1955, but that didn’t include western North America and the western Pacific, Hunt says.

While a full moon this Halloween will be visible all over the world, that doesn’t mean every citizen will have a sight. Residents will see it in both North and South America, as well as India, all of Europe and most of Asia. But while Western Australians will see it, residents of the central and eastern parts of the country will not.

Do you know time zones well? “Every time zone has this time zone except for those east of (GMT) +8 time zones if they have daylight saving time, or (GMT) +9 with no daylight saving time,” Hunt says.

Want to see a full moon Halloween? It is very bright at full stage and it doesn’t matter if you are in a busy city or on the farm. And you don’t need expensive equipment.

“Go outside and have a look,” says Hunt.

Don’t be surprised, though, if you take a Halloween snapshot with your phone and the photo doesn’t match what you saw.

“When the moon is photographed with a smartphone, the results can be disappointing,” admits Hunt. “The telephoto attachment will help make the moon bigger. Be sure to check that the adapter matches your make and model. Also don’t overexpose the moon. Adjust the camera brightness so features are visible and moon brightness does not fade.”

If you’re bent on getting a good shot, October 1st brings a full moon, so there’s time to practice. Because this makes two full moons in the same month, the full moon of Halloween can also be known as a “blue moon”.

If you’re too busy watching horror movies (or doing Whatever the coronavirus equivalent of trick-or-treating He), you’ll have to wait until 2039 for another world moon.

“Of course, full moons happen in October during the intervening years, not just Halloween,” Hunt says. And a Halloween moon might appear in your area before then. It will not be seen all over the world.