Last Night Was 2023's First Supermoon And The Pictures Are Gorgeous
The Full Buck supermoon rises over St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England.
The first supermoon of the year lit up skies all over the world last night – but if you missed it, don’t worry, we’ve got you’ve covered.
Also known as the “Buck Moon”, July’s Supermoon occurs when the lunar satellite is within 10% of its closest point to Earth in its orbit, and in the full phase of its cycle.
For context, the Moon varies between 360,000km and 400,000km from the Earth in its orbit. It looks like it is reflecting more light whenever it gets closer to our planet, and it appears larger (even though it’s only our perspective which has changed, not the actual moon).
And while July’s Supermoon may look enormous to us, it actually looked this big all the time in the past.
Museum planetary science researcher, professor Sara Russell, told the Natural History Museum: “The moon is actually, very slowly, moving away from Earth. So our Supermoon today was just a typical Moon a billion years ago.”
Russell also explained that there is “no formal scientific definition of of Supermoon” but, we usually attached the label to the full moon when it looks particularly large.
She added: “It is very rare that an orbiting body follows an exactly circular path. The Moon has a slight ‘eccentricity’, meaning it travels in an elliptical path around the Earth – so it is sometimes nearer and sometimes further away.”
And this slightly inconsistent path ended up offering a real treat to both keen and casual night sky watchers on Monday night.
Here are the pictures to prove it.
The First Supermoon of 2023
The Buck Moon Rising over St Michael's Mount 🌕#supermoon#fullmoon#cornwall#ukpic.twitter.com/AEzp15IoFc— Elaine Degiorgio (@DegiorgioElaine) July 4, 2023
Tonight’s #Supermoon passing the UK’s highest rooftop pic.twitter.com/NPIEML4NzT
— Jeff Overs (@JeffOvers) July 2, 2023
Moon over Tynemouth pic.twitter.com/DgzJUtFniK
— TH (@Trystanian) July 3, 2023
Like last night in Walsall you mean 😍 pic.twitter.com/UpXnFrRlOE
— Stu Dawson (@StuartJDawson) July 3, 2023
Two from last night, over the rooftops of Whitley Bay. #LoveUKWeatherpic.twitter.com/ojtz0FiGNF
— Mark Snaps Pics (@THXTEX) July 3, 2023
Sunday night in Shrewsbury#loveukweatherpic.twitter.com/KANcbZhT1W
— Chris Jones (@jonesy1007) July 3, 2023
The Buck Moon is looking stunning tonight in Norfolk! #LoveUkWeather#Norfolk#BuckMoon#Moon#beautifulpic.twitter.com/9PfEgHqJtN
— Norfolk Pete 🐍🦎🪶 (@norfolk_pete) July 3, 2023
Tonight's not so easy to see supermoon from rabbitings Country Park royston Barnsley @kerriegosneyTV@itvweather@KeeleyDonovan@Abbiedew@Hudsonweather@ChrisPage90@SimonOKing@bbcweather@metoffice#loveukweather@ThePhotoHour#moon#supermoon#BuckMoonpic.twitter.com/HCFYiohe4C
— Sue Billcliffe (@SBillcliffe) July 3, 2023
The 'Buck' Moon rising over St. Mary's Lighthouse tonight ....#LoveUKweather#MetOfficepic.twitter.com/GiLyCj0iGF
— Paul Appleby 📸 (@paulappleby01) July 3, 2023
Is there still room for awe in this frenetic world? The Supermoon over the Shard in today’s @thetimes reminded me of moments of epiphany . I do my problem solving sitting in the #RothkoRoom@Tate Where do you get headspace? Where do you breathe? @timesradiopic.twitter.com/aIeFGmg8wc
— Mariella Frostrup (@mariellaf1) July 4, 2023
July’s supermoon, the Buck Moon sets over Barnsley Town Hall. Julys Buck Moon is the first of four in a row supermoon’s for 2023. Barnsley, United Kingdom, 4th July 2023
Please DM for image sales #buckmoon#supermoon#moon#moonlight#photojournalism#photooftheday#fullmoon… pic.twitter.com/n8DchypHzx— Mark Cosgrove (@Mark_Cozy) July 4, 2023
And it wasn’t just over the UK, either.
A timelapse of July’s Supermoon setting behind Fort Worth City Hall.#FortWorth#Texas#supermoon#BuckMoon#fullmoon#dfwwx#ntxwx#txwxpic.twitter.com/AQP58DV0wW
— Matt Lantz (@mattlantz) July 3, 2023
July's supermoon lit up the night sky last night, with people gathering to watch it rising around the world - including over the ancient temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion in Greece | Read more: https://t.co/rOwO2P50JZpic.twitter.com/yYSd2pUk0R
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 4, 2023
Supermoon seen over Santiago, Chile last night 😲 pic.twitter.com/pulbsnrsuU
— Latest in space (@latestinspace) July 3, 2023
Timeline cleanse for you. Pink moon over Delphi tonight pic.twitter.com/kt4lNWpaRs
— Lisa O'Connor 🌻 (@Lisa_0Connor) July 3, 2023
#supermoon in Arizona tonight pic.twitter.com/dMYU6PKiMy
— T E E W E L K (@teewelk) July 4, 2023
If you’re now desperate to see it in real life, don’t worry.
According to the Natural History Museum, there will four Supermoons this year: July 3, August 1, August 31 and September 29, although the closest Supermoon of this century will happen on December 6, 2052.