The year’s first supermoon rose on Sunday night and was captured from across the world.
Since July’s full moon is usually called the “Buck Moon” in the northern hemisphere—after the seasonal appearance of antlers on male deer—this astronomical oddity was called the “Super Buck Moon” or “Buck Supermoon.”
It was termed a “supermoon” because the full moon was slightly closer to Earth than on average. The moon’s orbital path around the Earth is elliptical, so there’s a day each month when it’s at it closest. However, only when that day coincides with full moon is is called a supermoon.
The “Buck Supermoon” was 224,895 miles (361,934km) from Earth, around 13,959 miles (22,466km) closer than usual. It appears 5.8 per cent bigger and 12.8 per cent brighter than an ordinary full moon—with that extra brightness much more noticeable than the slightly larger size.
The “Buck Supermoon” was the first of four supermoons in 2023, with the next three—on August 2, August 31 and September 29—also timed to almost coincide with the moon’s closest point to Earth.
The buck supermoon rises behind fireworks Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The July full moon is the first of four supermoons to rise in 2023. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) The full Buck Moon rises above a ship as seen from Oracle Park after the San Francisco Giants MLB game against the Seattle Mariners in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 3, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) A couple cross the Al-Shuhada’a bridge over the Tigris River as the full moon rising in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) People watch as the “buck moon” rises over the skyline of Kuwait City on July 3, 2023. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images) A small airplane flies in front of the Buck Full Moon after departing from Buchanan Airport in Concord, Calif., on Sunday, July 2, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) A full moon rises behind Camlica mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) The ‘Full Buck’ supermoon rises over St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, on the North East coast of England on late Sunday, July 2, 2023. The July supermoon is arriving to its closest point to Earth at 224,895 miles (361,934km) – around 13,959 miles (22,466km) closer than usual. It appears 5.8 per cent bigger and 12.8 per cent brighter than an ordinary full moon. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP) The full moon rises in the evening in the sky behind the Frauenkirche, in Dresden, Germany, Monday, July 3, 2023. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP) The waxing gibbous moon rises behind ornamental pylons at Battle Hall convention center Sunday, July 2, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The buck moon will be full on Monday, July 3 and will be the first of four super moons to rise in 2023. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) The Buck Full Moon rises behind the Mount Diablo Summit Visitor Center atop Mount Diablo, Calif., on Sunday, July 2, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) A super moon rises on the night sky behind the Chlemoutsi medical castle in Kyllini, Peloponnese, Greece, on Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A super moon rises behind a tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) A super moon rises behind a Soviet-era monument for defenders of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in World War II, in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
