July's Buck Moon illuminates UK skies with rare planetary alignment

The Buck Moon illuminated the UK night sky this week, delivering a spectacular celestial display that reached its peak intensity at 15:36 BST. Skygazers across the nation captured remarkable photographs of the phenomenon, which coincides with a rare alignment of Saturn, Mars and Mercury visible in the summer sky. The event marks the second of three full moons occurring throughout the summer season.

Why the name 'Buck Moon'?

The July full moon derives its name from natural events occurring during this period of the year. Male deer, known as bucks, rapidly develop new antlers during July, giving the summer moon its distinctive designation. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich also recognises this lunar event by an alternative name—the Thunder Moon—reflecting the frequent summer storms that typically accompany this month across temperate regions.

Visual spectacle and observation details

Observers who viewed the moon near the southeastern horizon at sunset witnessed a particularly striking display, with the lunar disk adopting warm yellow-orange tones. This colour effect occurs because Earth's atmosphere scatters blue wavelengths as moonlight travels through the lower atmosphere, a phenomenon that intensifies when the moon appears close to the horizon. Additionally, the "Moon Illusion" causes observers' brains to perceive the celestial body as substantially larger than its actual size during this positioning.

Binoculars and telescopes reveal intricate lunar features typically obscured during other phases. The full illumination created by direct sunlight eliminates shadows across the lunar surface, making it an ideal opportunity to explore dark lunar seas—ancient basins once flooded by lava flows that hardened billions of years ago. Visible bright streaks, termed ejecta rays, radiate outward from impact craters, created when material ejected during violent collisions resettled on the lunar surface.

What comes next

The Buck Moon represents a midway point in the summer's lunar calendar. The Sturgeon Moon will rise on 28 August, named after freshwater fish historically caught by Native American communities in the Great Lakes region. Following this final summer full moon, meteorological autumn begins on 1 September, marking the conclusion of the season's celestial events.