Did the moon look much bigger and brighter than normal to you Monday night? You’re not alone.
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Dazzling images from around the world captured the first supermoon of the year, called the “Buck Moon,” which rose on Monday morning and reached its peak illumination at 7:39 am ET.
A supermoon is a term describing a full moon that occurs when it is within 90 per cent of its closest point to Earth. The “Buck Moon” got as close as 361,934 kilometres from the Earth.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch it yet, it will be visible and appear full until Tuesday evening, according to NASA.
July’s “Buck Moon” is one of four supermoons that will light up the skies this year, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which tracks lunar events.
The Almanac has named it the “Buck Moon” after bucks, the antlers of male deer, which are in full-growth mode at this time of the year.
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“While a supermoon is technically bigger and brighter than a regular full moon, it only appears about 7 per cent larger — which can be an imperceptible difference to the human eye, depending on other conditions,” it says on Almanac’s website.
The next supermoon, called the “Sturgeon Moon,” will be visible on Aug. 1, reaching its peak illumination in the afternoon.
In total, there will be two supermoon sightings next month, with the “Blue Moon” visible on Aug. 30 at night, getting as close as 357,344 kilometres from Earth.
Your last chance to look at a supermoon this year will come on Sept. 29 with the “Harvest Moon” peaking in the morning.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at photos of the “Buck Moon” taken around the world in case you missed it Monday.
The buck supermoon glows orange as it rises through smoke and atmospheric haze Monday in Kansas City, Mo. The July full moon is the first of four supermoons to rise in 2023.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Cars and trucks move on a highway in Frankfurt, Germany, as the moon sets on Tuesday.
AP Photo/Michael Probst
A super moon rises behind a Soviet-era monument for defenders of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in World War II, in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Tuesday.
AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky
A full moon rises behind Camlica mosque in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday.
AP Photo/Francisco Seco
A couple crosses the Al-Shuhada’a bridge over the Tigris River as the full moon rises in Baghdad, Iraq on Monday.
AP Photo/Hadi Mizban
The Full Buck supermoon rises over St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England. Picture date: Monday July 3, 2023.
(Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)
A super moon rises on the night sky behind the Chlemoutsi medical castle in Kyllini, Peloponnese, Greece, on Monday.
AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
This photograph taken in Paris on Monday shows July’s supermoon, known as the Buck Moon, with the ‘Pont de Bercy’ in the foreground.
Photo by STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP via Getty Images
Supermoon appears in the sky over the Laxminarayan temple, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, on Monday.
Photo by Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A supermoon is seen near the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, on Sunday.
Photo by Ahmed Gomaa/Xinhua via Getty Images
The Full Buck supermoon rises over St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, on the North East coast of England.
Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
The buck supermoon rises behind fireworks Monday in Kansas City, Mo.