The full moon of July, also known as Full Buck Moon, will rise above the horizon on Tuesday evening. The moon will be completely full at 6:57 p.m., and it will rise above the horizon around 8:00 p.m. However, viewers will be able to see the visible full moon for about 48 more hours.
The name Full Buck Moon was given to this month’s full moon by Native Americans because it represents the time of the year when buck deer start to grow their antlers. It is also known as Full Thunder Moon because of the thunderstorms that commonly occur in some parts of the country during July, or as Hay Moon, since it is the time when farmers begin storing hay inside their barns.
The full moon will be able to be seen from almost every part of the world, except for the north poles. This happens because when the full moon occurs, the position of the moon is almost on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. The path the moon follows during July nights looks like the path the sun follows in January. During the first month of the year, the sun is not visible in most parts of the north poles, such as the moon in July.
A full moon takes place when the side of the moon that is facing the Earth is entirely lit up by the sunlight, event that happens when the sun, the Earth, and the moon are aligned. The same circumstances occur on lunar eclipses. The difference is that the orbit of the moon around the Earth has a difference of 5 degrees about the orbit of the Earth around the sun. This way, the moon is not shadowed by the Earth. When the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, a lunar eclipse occurs.
Buck Moon, Sturgeon Moon and other names for full moons
The full moons that occur over the year have all a particular name, honoring culture and tradition that dates back to Native Americans, and even to old European immigrants. By naming the moons, it helped residents to remember important events that regularly occurred by that time of the year.
For example, in January the full moon is called Wolf Moon, because, by this time, the cold was so high that wolf packs became hungry and started to howl outside the villages, according to Farmer’s Almanac. In May, it is called the Flower Moon because it is the time of the year when flowers are most abundant.
The next month full moon is called the Sturgeon Moon. Fishing tribes gave the name to this moon because during August the sturgeon can be quickly caught in Great Lakes. Some tribes called it the Full Red Moon, because as the moon rises, it appears to have a reddish tone.
The lunar phase cycle is 29.5 days. This means that the next full moon will be on August 18 at 5:26 a.m. ET.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor