“Wolf Supermoon” is a moniker that combines two different ideas: a wolf moon and a supermoon. The Wolf Supermoon of January 2026 occurred last weekend, reaching its peak brightness on the evening of January 2 (IST). ‘Wolf Moon’ is the traditional name of the first full moon in January.

In fact many full moons have old seasonal names, often popular in almanacs and folklore, that helped people keep track of the time of year before the advent of the modern calendar. The wolf moon is associated with stories being heard more about wolves in the winter time, but the moon itself isn’t doing anything special. Second, ‘supermoon’ is an astronomical description.

The Moon revolves around the Earth in an oval shape rather than a perfect circle. This means that sometimes the Moon is a little closer to Earth, a point in its orbit called perigee, and sometimes it is a little farther away (the farthest point is called apogee).

If a full moon occurs when the moon is near perigee, people call it a ‘supermoon’. During a Wolf Supermoon, the Moon may appear slightly larger and brighter than the average full moon. The difference is slight but real, and more noticeable in side-by-side photos than in normal viewing.

A common illusion at this time is the moon illusion, where the moon appears larger near the horizon because of how the human brain assesses distance and scale.