Look Up

It should be easy to catch since it will rise just as the sun is setting. For those of us in San Mateo, the moon will rise 9:09 p.m. Wednesday night, while the sunsets at 8:31 p.m. Civil twilight will just be ending when as it rises. It will rise about 45 minutes later on the following nights, so it will also set later too.

According to Almanac.com, July’s full moon is called the Buck Moon because a buck’s antlers are in full growth mode at this time. Other July Moon names reference animals. The Cree, North American Indigenous people who primarily are in Canada, call it the Feather Molting Moon. While the Tlingit people, Northwest Coast Indians of southern Alaska, called it the Salmon Moon, signifying when fish returned to the area and were ready to be harvested.

Plants are also featured in some of July’s moon names. Some of the Almanac.com’s favorites are Berry Moon, coming from the Anishinaabe, Indigenous peoples present in Canada and the United States. The Dakota, a Native American tribe, called it Moon When The Chokecherries Are Ripe, while the Cherokee, another Native American tribe, called it Month Of The Ripe Corn Moon. The Algonquin people, Indigenous people of Eastern Canada and the Ojibwe, Ojibwa or Saulteaux, Anishinaabe people in southern Canada and the northern Midwestern United States, called it the Raspberry Moon, while other Anishinaabe people also called it the Halfway Summer Moon. Whereas other Algonquin people, called it the Thunder Moon because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month.

Look Up appears in the weekend edition. If you have any astronomical questions or facts you’d like to share email news@smdailyjournal.com with the subject line “Look Up.”