The buck moon will rise in British skies on Thursday, and it should be a spectacular orange sight.
Like last month’s full moon, it will be low in the sky, due to last December’s ‘major lunar standstill’, an event that occurs roughly every 18 years and means the moon reaches its most extreme positions on the horizon.
The buck moon will be visible to the south, and could have an orangey hue due to hanging low in the sky.
Why is it called the ‘buck moon’?
The names we use for full moons today (such as ‘cold moon’, ‘wolf moon’ and ‘harvest moon’) come to us indirectly from Native American traditions
NASA’s Gordon Johnston has previously explained: “In the 1930s the Maine Farmer’s Almanac began publishing ‘Indian’ names for the full moons, tying these names to the European months.
NASA writes that the buck moon is so-called because: “The Algonquin tribes of what is now the north-eastern United States called this the buck moon. Early summer is normally when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. They also called this the thunder moon because of early summer’s frequent thunderstorms.”
The July full moon is sometimes known as the ‘hay moon’ or ‘mead moon’ in Europe, after the fermented honey drink.
The major lunar standstill means the moon hangs low in the sky (Alamy)
When is the best time to see the buck moon?
It will rise on the on 10 July at 22:09 BST, and be visible in the south-southwest in the constellation Sagittarius.
You’ll be able to see it through the night, and it will set in the southwest in the hours before dawn.
One reason the moon will appear lower in the sky is due to last December’s major lunar standstill.
This means the moon’s path across the sky is longer: ‘major lunar standstills’ occur when the tilt of the moon and the tilt of the Earth coincide.
Archaeologist and historian Jennifer Wexler told the BBC: “Over several years, the limits of moonrise and moonset themselves gradually change, until they reach the point where the northernmost and southernmost moonrise and moonset positions are at their maximum distance apart on the horizon.
“This two-year period is what is known as a major lunar standstill, or lunistice, and it only occurs every 18.6 years.
“Once a major standstill is reached, the distance between northernmost and southernmost moonrise and moonset can be exceptionally far apart, and it stays that way for around two years.”
Why will it be bigger and look orange?
The moon will not actually be bigger, but will appear bigger because it is near the horizon, which makes people perceive it as larger, relatively speaking.
The phenomenon has been known since ancient times but is still not fully understood.
When the moon is low in the sky, it can appear reddish or an orange colour from Earth.
This is caused by sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere after bouncing off the moon.
