Unique “Buck Supermoon” will be visible from Ireland this week

Here’s all you need to know about the July full moon set to illuminate Irish skies this week.

July’s full moon is known as the Buck Moon, “named after the new antlers that emerge from a buck’s forehead around this time of the year”. It is also called Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, and Wyrt Moon.

Sunset on Wednesday will be at 9:47pm, meaning the moon should peak approximately 30 minutes after at 10.25pm with the illumination at 98.9%. Since the peak of this full moon is less than 10 hours after the Moon was closest to the Earth in its orbit, this will be a supermoon. The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and is defined as ‘a New or a Full Moon that occurs when the Moon is at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in its orbit’.

Because it’s so close to Earth, a Super Full Moon also looks about 30% brighter than a Micro Full Moon and about 16% brighter than an average Full Moon.

Timeanddate.com advise that the best time to see the moon is just after moonrise, when the Moon is close to the horizon. Just before moonset is also a good time. Also, when the Full Moon is low, it looks bigger and brighter than when it’s higher up in the sky. This is called the Moon illusion, and makes more of a difference to what it looks like than the real boost you get from it being a bit closer to Earth.

Close-up shot of a supermoon in Gweedore, Donegal, via Shutterstock

If you’re looking to photograph the impressive full moon, Canon have outlined 8 ways to best capture it including planning ahead tracking the phases of the moon online, and using a long lens for close up shots.

READ NEXT: Dubai Bar offering Irish workers ‘all expenses paid’ work and return flights home