This week's Hunter full moon will be the brightest supermoon of the year

Sky watchers had plenty of fun in the late summer and fall months. Our rare October comet is still gracing the sky this week, visible in the west just after sunset.

And our full Hunter's Moon technically occurs on Thursday, but will appear in its entirety Wednesday through Friday this week. The bonus is that it won't just be a supermoon, but the brightest of four consecutive supermoons we're enjoying this year.

This is our third supermoon – which looks slightly larger than normal moons to the human eye – that we have risen in a row. Our last supermoon of the year will be in November.

This month's full moon is called the Hunter's Moon because it comes after the Harvest Moon in September. It has had this name since the 18th century, explains a NASA skywatching column.

“According to the Farmer's Almanac, when the leaves fall and the deer are fattened, it is time to hunt,” the NASA article says. “Because the harvesters have harvested the fields, hunters can easily see the animals that have come out to collect (and the foxes that have come out to hunt them).”

This week's moon will officially be full on Thursday morning at 7:26 a.m. Later tonight we will see it rise as a full moon.

Over the centuries, Native American tribes have had other names for our full moons. The October Moon is also known as the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon.