A supermoon lit up the night sky Monday. If you missed it you have more than one chance to see a supermoon again in the coming weeks. Here’s how you can prepare.
Monday’s “Buck” moon was just the first of what “many publications consider this the first of four consecutive supermoons in 2023,” according to NASA. Supermoons occur when the moon is 90% of perigee, or closest to Earth.
Up next is the “Sturgeon” moon on Aug. 1.
“August’s full Moon was traditionally called the Sturgeon Moon because the giant sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this part of summer,” according to the Farmer’s Almanac. Other names for the moon include: “Flying Up Moon” by the Cree, “Corn Moon” by the Algonquin and Ojibwe, “Harvest Moon” by the Dakota, “Ricing Moon” by the Anishinaabe, “Black Cherries Moon” by the Assiniboine and Mountain Shadows Moon by the Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest.
This “Sturgeon Moon” is expected to reach its peak on Tuesday, Aug. 1. Per NASA, morning twilight will begin at 5:03 a.m. EDT that day, sunrise will be at 6:09 a.m., solar noon will be at 1:14 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 69.1 degrees, sunset will be at 8:19 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 9:25 p.m.
“As evening twilight ends, the rising full Moon will be 5 degrees above the southeastern horizon,” NASA said. “Two of the five visible planets will be in the sky, bright Mercury just 1/2 degree above the west-northwestern horizon and Mars at 5 degrees above the western horizon.”
It will reach peak illumination time at 2:32 p.m. EDT, the Farmer’s Almanac explained. To see the “Sturgeon Moon,” the outlet recommends simply looking up.
“That evening, look toward the southeast after sunset to catch a glimpse of the Sturgeon Supermoon rising,” it said.
For those who also miss the Aug. 1 moon, there is another supermoon arriving on Aug. 30. That one is called the Blue Sturgeon Supermoon.
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