It’s summer, so the warm nights make for great skywatching. And over the next few nights, there’s a special treat: A supermoon is coming for the 2023 4th of July holiday weekend.
July’s full moon, also called the buck moon, will be biggest on the nights of Sunday July 2 and Monday July 3. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the moon will hit its peak illumination at 7:39 a.m. on Monday July 3.
It will be below the horizon at that precise moment, the Almanac said, so plan to look towards the southeast after sunset to watch it rise up into the evening sky.
Taking place right around the holiday, the full moon will light up the night sky along with the countless fireworks displays that are expected to occur.
What is a supermoon? When are the supermoons in 2023?
When the moon’s orbit brings it closer to Earth than usual, the cosmic combo is called a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth at the same time the moon is full. Some facts from NASA about supermoons:
- The moon orbits Earth in an ellipse, an oval that brings it closer to and farther from Earth as it goes around.
- The farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogee and is about 253,000 miles from Earth, on average.
- Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 226,000 miles from Earth.
- When a full moon appears at perigee it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon – and that’s where we get a “supermoon.”
- On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon.
“Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding when a full moon is close enough to the Earth to qualify as a supermoon,” NASA said. “Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit.”
After July 3, there will be three more supermoons in 2023:
- August 1
- August 30
- September 29
Why is it called the buck moon?
July’s full moon is called the buck moon because this is when deer antlers are in full growth after shedding during the spring. “Bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year, producing a larger and more impressive set as the years go by,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
The moon’s monthly nicknames come from a number of places, including Native American, Colonial American and European sources.
For millennia, people across the world, including Native Americans in the eastern and central USA, named the months after nature’s cues.
July’s full moon is also called the “thunder” moon because of early summer’s frequent thunderstorms, NASA’s Gordon Johnston said.
Another name for July’s full moon is the “hay” moon (for when farmers race to put hay in their barns around the storms), Earthsky.com reported. According to AccuWeather, other full moon nicknames this month include the berry moon, the halfway summer moon and the salmon moon.
Contributing: Marina Johnson, the Detroit Free Press
