The full buck moon will reach its peak illumination on Thursday, July 10. It’s just one of this month’s celestial highlights.

The moon rises in the southeast sky on Thursday evening around 9 p.m. in both D.C. and San Francisco. July’s full moon — the first of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere — will reach peak illumination at 4:38 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, with best viewing during the predawn and again after dark in the evening.

This year, the Buck Moon follows Earth's aphelion, the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun, by just a few days, according to Space.com. That makes it the full moon farthest from the Sun in 2025, a result of orbital geometry rather than distance from Earth.