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.
Although the full moon is associated with myths about werewolves and lunacy, there is some evidence that the phases of the Moon do affect human’s sleep cycles. One small study found that during a full moon people take an average of five minutes longer to fall asleep, they sleep for 20 minutes less and periods of deep sleep reduce by 30%.
The lunar cycle certainly has an effect on organisms. The greatest animal migration on Earth—the moving of zooplankton moving from the Arctic Ocean depths to the shallows—is be governed by moonlight. So are the the Christmas Island crabs’ annual migration and the spawning of coral reefs in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Since the full moon is opposite the sun with regard to Earth, July’s full moon moves the lowest across the southern sky as seen from the northern hemisphere, essentially mimicking the position of the sun during the December.
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 next full moon will be the Sturgeon Moon—the second-largest supermoon of the year.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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