Mark your calendars: first Supermoon of 2023, the Buck Moon, approaching!

Get ready for the first supermoon of the year, known as the buck moon, which will rise later this week in July. Here’s when and where to witness the spectacle.

Mesmerising Buck Moon: A supermoon shining bright in the sky. Representative image. (AP)

This week, get ready to witness July's full moon, also known as the buck moon. It's the first supermoon of the year, which means the moon will look a bit larger and brighter than usual.

The best time to view the buck moon is during its rise in the southeastern sky on the evening before July 3. It will also be bright and full on the nights of July 2 and 4, appearing in the constellation Sagittarius.

The buck moon is named after male deer, also called bucks, because this is the time when their antlers grow. Interestingly, it's also known by other names like Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, Salmon Moon, and Raspberry Moon.

So, what makes this moon a supermoon? Well, it will be a little bit closer to Earth than usual. The moon goes around our planet in an oval-shaped path, and sometimes it comes closer to us. When it comes within 90% of its closest point to Earth, we call it a supermoon.

This year, there are four supermoons, and the buck moon is the first and smallest one. The others will be in August and September, with the August 30 full moon being the biggest and brightest. It's even called the Blue Moon because it's the second full moon in that month.

The buck moon is also one of the lowest full moons we see in the Northern Hemisphere. It's like a mirror image of the sun's position during the day. When the sun is high in the sky during the summer, the full moon will be low in the sky at night. But in December, when the sun is low during the day, the full moon will be high at night.

After the buck moon, the next supermoon to look forward to is the Sturgeon Moon on August 1, which will be the second-largest supermoon of the year, but slightly smaller than the Blue Moon in August.

Make sure to mark your calendars and find a good spot to enjoy the breathtaking view of the buck moon, the first supermoon of 2023.