This year's Chuseok full moon will rise at 5:32 p.m. on Oct. 6 in Seoul. The full moon will be highest in the sky at 11:50 p.m. on the 6th.
The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) on the 1st released astronomical information related to this year's Chuseok full moon. The times the Chuseok full moon will rise this year are 5:32 p.m. in Seoul, 5:33 p.m. in Incheon, 5:30 p.m. in Daejeon, 5:26 p.m. in Daegu, 5:33 p.m. in Gwangju, 5:24 p.m. in Busan, 5:23 p.m. in Ulsan, and 5:31 p.m. in Sejong.
However, the time when the moon is on the exact opposite side of the sun and becomes a completely round moon (full phase) is 12:48 p.m. on Oct. 7, the day after Chuseok, and it cannot be observed because it is daytime. Therefore, the full moon visible on the night of Chuseok will not be perfectly round and will appear slightly less full on the left side.
By region, the Chuseok full moon will rise in the order of Ulsan (5:23 p.m.), Busan (5:24 p.m.), Daegu (5:26 p.m.), Daejeon (5:30 p.m.), Sejong (5:31 p.m.), Gwangju (5:33 p.m.), and Incheon (5:33 p.m.). Other regions can be checked on the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Astronomical and Space Knowledge Information website (https://astro.kasi.re.kr/life/pageView/6).
People generally think the first full moon of the lunar year or the Chuseok full moon is the largest, but that is not actually the case. We can see a full moon when the sun and moon are aligned on opposite sides of Earth, and the moon appears larger when the moon, which orbits elliptically, passes perigee.
The largest full moon this year is the one that rises on Nov. 5, and the smallest full moon is the one that rose on Apr. 13. The size difference between the two moons is 14%. As of Nov. 5, the distance between Earth and the moon is about 356,800 kilometers, more than about 27,600 kilometers closer than the average Earth-moon distance of 384,400 kilometers.