July’s full moon doesn’t officially occur until Sunday, July 21, at 6:17 a.m. EDT (1017 GMT). However, it will look its best this month as it rises the evening before. The trick with watching a full moon rise is to catch it as it appears during twilight rather than darkness. 

Also called the Buck Moon and Hay Moon, it will shine against the background stars of the Capricornus constellation. Get the exact time of moonrise where you are and plan to be somewhere with a clear view of the southeastern horizon.  

Many publications consider this the first of four consecutive supermoons in 2023. The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 as either a new or full Moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90% of perigee, its closest approach to Earth. Since we can’t see a new Moon (except when it passes in front of the Sun), what has caught the public’s attention in recent decades are full supermoons, as these are the biggest and brightest full Moons for the year. Different publications use different thresholds for deciding which full Moons qualify as a supermoon. In 2023, some publications recognize four supermoons (this full Moon, the two full Moons in August, and the full Moon in September), while others recognize only the two brightest supermoons, the full Moons in August.

The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing “Indian” names for full Moons in the 1930s and these names are now widely known and used. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in June 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.