The first Super Moon of the year: when and how to see the Buck Moon in July

Already this month, you can see the first Supermoon of 2023. During July 2 and 3, the Moon will have more brightness than the average full moon.

The difference will be seen because of the smaller distance - an average full moon is 384,472 km from Earth, while during the super moon the distance will decrease to 361,933 km. EarthSky reports this(scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video).

The brightness of the moon will be 16% higher than usual. According to NASA, the names of Native American full moons were published in the Maine Farmers' Almanac back in the 1930s, and each one has a meaning for the time of year. Goats grow antlers in early summer, so the first full moon in July is called the Buck Moon.

It is also called the Thunder Moon because thunderstorms begin in early summer. The moon gets the prefix "super" because it peaks less than 10 hours after it orbits the Earth. New moons or full moons, which occur when the Moon is within 90% of perigee. The term was coined by astronomer Richard Nolle in 1979.

This year there will be four consecutive full super moons: the July Baca Super Moon, the Sturgeon Moon on Aug. 1, the Blue Moon on Aug. 30 and the Harvest Moon on Sept. 28. The Blue Super Moon will be the closest to Earth this year.

The supermoon of August 30-31, 2023 will be the closest full moon in 2023, as well as the monthly Blue Moon. This is because it is the second full moon in the calendar month. By the way, the next monthly Blue Moon will not be visible until May 31, 2026.

By the way, some astronomers complain about the name "supermoon" and call the excitement surrounding this event "hype. However, this may seem so only to experts who are constantly studying celestial bodies.

The "supermoon" aspect of the hype probably stems from a mistaken impression that people had when the word "supermoon" came into use decades ago. Some people mistakenly believed that a full Super Moon would look much larger to the naked eye, however, this is not the case. Nowadays, most people actually can't tell the difference between a super moon and a regular full moon.

Recall that scientists have hypothesized that there are hundreds of millions of worlds in the Milky Way where life can exist.

Previously OBOZREVATEL told about a unique celestial phenomenon: what is the "Da Vinci Lights".

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