Spectacular pictures capture July’s supermoon glowing around the world

This week’s Buck Moon may not have quite reached its peak, but it gave a stunning preview of what’s in store on Sunday night and Monday morning.

The Buck Moon is July’s full moon, named after the male deer who begin regrowing their antlers around this time. The name hails from Native American history, while other monikers include the Thunder Moon and Hay Moon.

The 2023 Buck Moon is particularly notable however, because it is also a supermoon. Supermoons happen 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 is not a perfect circle, it is elliptical – an oval – meaning it varies in distance.

Tonight, the Moon will be around 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 lunar apogee.

The Buck Moon will be at its peak at 12.38pm today, but remain large and bright in the sky throughout both Monday and Tuesday night – depending on the weather.

Summer 2023 promises to be a bountiful one for moon gazers – the Buck Moon is the first of four this season. Next month boasts two, the Sturgeon Moon on August 1 and Blue Moon on August 31, followed by the Harvest Moon on September 28.

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