The next full moon will be the first full supermoon of 2023. The Buck Supermoon will appear on July 2 and 3 and will appear brighter than the average full moon.
The average full moon is 238,900 miles from Earth. Supermoons are slightly closer – the Buck Supermoon will be 224,895 – but the change in size isn't obviously bigger, according to EarthSky, an astronomy website published by experts in the field.
The brightness of the moon, however, will seem different. Supermoons are 16% brighter than an average moon.
There are many common beliefs about how the full moon can influence everything from sleep quality to mental health and heart health. However, only a few of these have been proven in studies.
The idea that a full moon can stir up emotions, provoke bizarre behavior, and even cause physical illness isn’t just a literary trope. It’s a strongly held belief, even today.
In fact, one study says that nearly 81%Trusted Source of mental health professionals believe the full moon can make people ill.
As powerful as this ancient belief appears to be, there’s little science to back up the theory that a full moon causes a swift uptick in emergency room visits or mental health unit admissions.
Here’s what researchers have found about the moon’s effects on human bodies and behavior.
People all around the world are feeling the affects of the full moon and eclipse. As I talk to my friends across the world everybody is feeling the energy most of them are experiencing anxiety,anxiousness, body aches, Loss of appetite, emotional roller coasters and family disputes says Landon Brooks with www.mawh.tv. I highly recommend everybody to pay attention to what's happening to there bodies and in the sky at the same time. I know this goes against a lot of beliefs but if you remember what Guided the wiseman to Jesus? OK so paying attention to the stars it's not so far-fetched it's even in the Bible. It is so strange to me how people judge other people who pay attention to the stars and moon cycles and call them strange weird or even question their core beliefs.
The full moon effect
For centuries, physicians and philosophers blamed behavioral changes on the pull of the moon. The word “lunatic,” after all, stemmed from the idea that changes in mental state were related to lunar cycles.
The connection between the two is even supported in historic legal treatises. For instance, famed British jurist William Blackstone wrote that people gained and lost their ability to reason according to the moon’s shifting phases.
The “lunar effect” is based on the belief that health and behavior are altered during specific stages of the lunar cycle, with some claiming that it can affect everything from reproductive health to sleep quality and beyond.
Sources of superstition
The idea that the moon impacts certain aspects of physical and mental health can be tracedTrusted Source back to ancient Greece and Rome and is well-documented in the writings of classical authors like Aristotle and Lucilius.
During the 1970s, psychiatrist Arnold Lieber theorized that the moon influenced the body’s “biological tides” and altered human behavior, leading to increased rates of violence and homicide.
While many of these theories have since been debunked, the possibility that humans could be affected by the moon’s cycles isn’t entirely groundless.
The ocean’s tides rise and fall in time with the moon’s phases, and several marine species — includingTrusted Source reef coral, sea-dwelling worms, and some fish — have reproductive cycles that are roughly timed to lunar cycles.
Still, not many studies link the moon to human behavior and health conditions. Here’s what researchers can tell us about the connections that do exist between people and the full moon.
The November full moon is known as Full Beaver Moon and this month it coincides with a total lunar eclipse! The Beaver Blood Moon lunar eclipse will be visible across North America, parts of South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It will also be the first-ever total lunar eclipse to coincide the Election Day in the United States. You can watch the total lunar eclipse on Space.com for free, courtesy of several webcasts from observatories across the United States that start at 3 a.m. EST (0800 GMT).
The full moon shows its face to Earth about once a month. Well, sort of.
A total lunar eclipse occurs approximately once every 1 ½ years on average, with the next total lunar eclipse not taking place until March 14, 2025 — although partial and penumbral lunar eclipses will continue to occur in the meantime. A penumbral lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the outer shadow, or penumbra, of the Earth, so the visual effect is more subtle.
Those viewing the total lunar eclipse will be able to see the curvature of Earth's shadow as it begins to slowly swallow the moon completely. At least a portion of the phenomenon will be visible throughout eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific, North America and Central America, according to NASA.
Every first full moon of November is called the beaver moon in honor of the semiaquatic rodents. This is the time of year when beavers begin to take shelter after storing their food for the winter, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. The moon will be at its brightest at 6:02 a.m. ET, the almanac notes.
Viewing a lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon align so that the moon passes into Earth's shadow. Because of this arrangement, unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse can be enjoyed from anywhere the moon is present during the night. Nearby stars are usually obscured by the moon's glow, but the moon will be dimmed enough for the duration of the eclipse that they will be revealed, according to Sterling.
"With solar eclipses, you have to be at the right place, but for lunar eclipses, it's not nearly as sensitive to location," Sterling said.
"The whole half of the earth that is in night during the period when the moon falls into the shadow can see it. So basically, it's available to half the world."
The same phenomenon that colors the sky blue and sunsets red is what causes the moon to turn its rusty red during a lunar eclipse, according to NASA. During a lunar eclipse, Earth's atmosphere disperses sunlight, allowing red, orange and yellow light to pass through, and scattering away the blue light that is typically seen with the moon.
Most of the time, the full moon isn't perfectly full. We always see the same side of the moon, but part of it is in shadow, due to the moon's rotation. Only when the moon, Earth and the sun are perfectly aligned is the moon 100% full, and that alignment produces a lunar eclipse.
And sometimes — once in a blue moon — the moon is full twice in a month (or four times in a season, depending on which definition you prefer). You can prepare for the next full moon or eclipse with our guide on how to photograph a lunar eclipse, as well as how to photograph the moon with a camera in general, can help you make the most of the event. If you need imaging gear, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to make sure you're ready for the next eclipse.
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