The full moon in July 2025 is increasing this week – here is what to expect the ‘Buck Moon’ ‘
The full moon of July, known as “Buck Moon”, will rise on Wednesday July 10 and will present a spectacular spectacle for Stargazers and astrophotographers.
A full moon occurs when the moon is positioned in front of the sun in the sky, which makes it appear completely lit from our point of view here on earth.
The Buck Moon takes its name from the year in North America when male deer, known as Bucks, are starting to develop their woods. It is also sometimes called the “Moon Thunder”, in reference to seasonal summer storms which often rumble in certain parts of the United States in July. The lunar milestone also occurs less than a week after the end of the earth – the point of its orbit which is most distant from the sun – which makes it the full moon most distant from the sun in 2025.
When to see the BUCK Full Moon BUCK
The full moon of this month will occur at 4:36 p.m. HAE (2036 GMT) on July 10, but it will not be visible until it rises above the southern horizon at sunset in your local time zone. In New York, for example, Moonrise occurs around 8:53 p.m. local time. Do not forget: the exact schedules of the moon phases vary depending on where you are on Earth, so be sure to consult a trust website such as in-t-t-t–sky.org or Timeanddate.com to obtain the correct schedules for your region.
Why the Buck Moon looks so low
The full moon of July will be particularly low in the sky after sunset. This is largely due to its proximity to the summer solstice, when the sun is at its highest diurnal sky, and the moon follows a path accordingly through the night.
This effect is even more extreme in 2025 thanks to a phenomenon known as “lunar major”. This occurs every 18.6 years, when the gravity of the sun drags the tilted orbit of the moon in its most extreme inclination compared to the celestial equator of the earth. This means that the moon appears particularly high – or low – in the sky of the earth according to the period of the year.
What to look for on July 10
The best time to see the full moon in July will be in the hours that followed Moonrise on July 10, when the lunar disc seems greater than it really is, thanks to “the illusion of the moon”. This phenomenon occurs when the Moon is positioned near the horizon, how our brain encourages us to think that it is greater than when it is directly above, despite the fact that it occupies the same amount of space in the night sky with both positions!
You may also notice that Buck’s moon takes on a golden or reddish shade shortly after the increase. This warm shade is caused by the diffusion of Rayleigh, the same effect that causes colored sunshine and sunrise. This happens because the sunlight is reflected on the surface of the moon must travel further through the atmosphere of the earth to reach us when it is weak on the horizon compared to the moment when it is directly above, causing more light in the wavelengths bluring to disperse, while allowing lighter wavelengths.
Celebrate Apollo with a lunar reverse
This month also marks the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon while Michael Collins looked at Lunar Orbit. To celebrate, we invite you to locate each of the six historic landing sites of the Apollore era on the lunar surface using our practical visual guide. It is possible to find the region visited by each Apollo mission with the naked eye, but a 6 -inch telescope will help reveal details on the broken lunar landscape and the smooth lunar seas surrounding each of the landing areas.
Publisher’s note: If you capture an image of the complete “Buck Moon” and want to share it with Space.com readers, please send your photos, comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
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