July’s Buck moon – also a supermoon – blinds the sky | Technical News

This week’s buck moon may not have quite peaked yet, but it gave a stunning preview of what’s to come on Sunday night and Monday morning.

The Buck Moon is the full moon of July, named for the male deer that begin to regrow their antlers at this time. The name comes from Native American history, other nicknames include “Thunder Moon” and “Hay Moon”.

However, the Buck Moon 2023 is particularly notable because it is also a supermoon. Super moons occur when a full moon coincides with lunar perigee, meaning the moon is at its closest point to the earth. The moon’s orbit around our planet isn’t a perfect circle, it’s elliptical – an oval – meaning the distance varies.

Tonight, the moon will be about 225,000 miles from Earth, compared to an average of 238,855 miles. At its furthest point, the moon is 252,088 miles away — known as the lunar apogee.

The Buck Moon will culminate at 12.38pm today but will remain large and bright in the sky throughout Monday and Tuesday night – weather dependent.

The summer of 2023 promises to be a bountiful summer for moon watchers – the buck moon is the first of four this season. Next month there are two, the sturgeon moon on August 1st and the blue moon on August 31st, followed by the harvest moon on September 28th.

MORE: A buck moon is coming – what it means and how to see the first supermoon of the year

MORE: The moon is poised to become a big moneymaker

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