Almost, a month back the internet was swamped under the enthralling pictures of Strawberry Moon, which was witnessed on June 14 this year. It was a beautiful supermoon, which got its name because it was a full moon at Strawberry harvest time. However, if you missed it last time then no need to worry, as the earth is all set to witness a supermoon on Wednesday. As per the official NASA site, the skies will be bright-lit on July 13, as the full moon named the Buck Moon will be visible at 2:38 PM EDT (12:08 AM IST, Thursday).
The iconic Strawberry Moon of June 14 marked the last full moon of spring or the first full moon of summer. Due to Aphelion (i.e. the point of the Earth’s orbit that is the farthest away from the Sun), this time interestingly the supermoon is occurring around the same time when the Sun is farthest from the planet. Therefore, on July 13, reportedly the Moon will be only 3,57,264 kilometres away from the Earth. On its official site, NASA said, “The next full moon will be Wednesday afternoon, July 13, 2022, appearing opposite the Sun in Earth-based longitude at 2:38 p.m. EDT.
It further added, “This will be on Thursday morning from the India Standard Time Zone eastward to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about three days, from early Tuesday morning through early Friday morning.”
According to the news agency Associated Press, a supermoon is a cosmic combo, which occurs when the moon’s orbit comes closer to the Earth than usual, resulting in the moon appearing slightly bigger and brighter. In addition, it is being called Buck moon in a reference to the time of the year when new antlers are growing on male deer or bucks.
While the supermoon is a treat for sky watchers and photographers, who wait years for such celestial events to take place, this phenomenon can have tidal effects on the planet. Therefore it causes very high and low tides. Moreover, aggravated flooding can be one of the outcomes of the coastal storms at the sea during this time.
