The eighth full moon of 2026, known as the Buck Moon, rose into evening skies on Wednesday, July 29, illuminating midsummer landscapes and offering photographers a classic warm-weather full moon as twilight faded. According to Astronomy Magazine, the full moon occurred at 10:36 a.m. EDT and rose that evening within 20 minutes of sunset, dominating the constellation Capricornus. As a midsummer full moon in the Northern Hemisphere, it followed a relatively low arc across the sky because full moons always appear opposite the sun, which was still high in late July.
Buck Moon Illuminates Evening Skies Around the World
Observers around the globe captured the celestial event against diverse backdrops. Forbes noted that the moon rose behind the ancient Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion south of Athens, Greece, and behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City. Space reported additional sightings, including a ballerina performing in front of the lunar disk near Tekirdağ, Türkiye, and the moon rising alongside Ankara Castle. In Europe, the rising moon’s color was stained a deep crimson by smoke from wildfires following a prolonged heatwave.
Understanding the Names and Optical Effects
July’s full moon has traditionally been called the Buck Moon because male deer begin to regrow their antlers, or bucks, at this time of year, according to BBC. Historically, these nicknames helped people keep track of time and monitor changing seasons, while the Royal Observatory in Greenwich also refers to it as the Thunder Moon due to summer storms.
Skywatchers viewing the horizon observed an orange tint and the moon illusion, an optical effect making the moon appear larger near the horizon. The warm color occurs because the light passes through Earth’s atmosphere—a soup of nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Short-wavelength light like blue strikes those molecules, while longer wavelengths like red and orange more easily travel through to the eyes.
While many observers used the moon illusion and dusk timing for photography, direct telescope viewing presented challenges. With the sun high overhead from the lunar surface, the brightly lit face showed few shadows, making it difficult to pick out fine details, though observers could trace large dark regions called maria and spot features like the crater Tycho and its ejecta rays.
Upcoming Astronomical Events in August
The July Buck Moon serves as a prelude to a busy month of astronomical events in August 2026. Half an orbit later, on August 12, a new moon will position itself precisely between the Earth and the sun, causing a dramatic total solar eclipse visible from parts of Greenland, Iceland, and Spain.
According to Forbes, parts of Canada will experience a partial eclipse during this event, with Newfoundland closest to the path of totality seeing about a 50% partial eclipse, followed by Halifax at 31%, Québec City at 24%, Boston at 16%, and New York at 10%. Solar eclipse glasses will be essential throughout all phases of the partial eclipse. Just a few hours after the eclipse, the annual Perseid meteor shower will peak, potentially yielding about 50 shooting stars per hour in dark skies, followed two weeks later by a lunar eclipse.
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