2023 Buck Moon Supermoon – Don’t Miss It!

Prepare yourself for the sighting of July’s full moon, commonly referred to as the buck moon, as it graces us this week. This celestial event marks the first supermoon of the year, resulting in a slightly larger and more radiant appearance of the moon.

The best time to see the Buck Moon is during its rising in the southeastern sky the evening before July 3. It will also be bright and full on the nights of July 2 and 4, appearing in the constellation of Sagittarius.

Buck moon is named after the male deer, also called buck, because that’s when their antlers grow. Interestingly, it is also known by other names such as Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, Salmon Moon and Raspberry Moon.

So what makes this moon a supermoon? Well, it’s a little closer to Earth than usual. The moon orbits our planet in an oval path, and sometimes it comes closer to us. When it is within 90 percent of its closest point to Earth, we call it a supermoon.

There are four supermoons this year, with the Buck Moon being the first and smallest. The others are in August and September, when the full moon on August 30 is the biggest and brightest. It is even called the Blue Moon because it is the second full moon of that month.

The Buck Moon is also one of the lowest full moons we see in the Northern Hemisphere. It is like a mirror image of the position of the sun during the day. When the sun is high in the sky in summer, the full moon is low in the sky at night. But in December, when the sun is low during the day, the full moon is high at night.

After the Buck Moon, the next supermoon is the August 1st Sturgeon Moon, which is the second largest supermoon of the year, but slightly smaller than August’s Blue Moon.

Be sure to mark your calendar and find a good spot to enjoy the breathtaking views of the Buck moon, the first supermoon of 2023.