If you spent any time gazing at the night sky last week, the dramatic moon surely caught your eye.

July’s full moon, known as the Buck Moon, also had the honor this year of appearing as the largest and brightest of the four supermoons of 2022.

The July full moon got its name from the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, which began naming full moons back in the 1930s.

According to the Almanac, Native American tribes coined the term “buck moon,” because it coincides with early summer when male deer shed and regrow their antlers.

So-called “supermoons” happen when a full moon occurs within at least 90% of the perigee, or the point in the moon’s orbit when it passes closest to the earth, making it appear larger and brighter.

In this case, the Buck Moon was closest about 1:38 p.m. Wednesday and appeared large and bright through its whole journey across the Wednesday night sky.

However, the moon continued to appear full and was visible Thursday night also, giving skygazers another opportunity to take a look or even snap a photo.

This dramatic picture was taken in the Wednesday night sky over Kingfisher by Lily Fletcher, Kingfisher High School’s chief photographer.

For the benefit of other local photographers, Fletcher provided details about her equipment and camera settings:

“I was using the Canon R6 with a sigma 150- 600mm lens,” she said. “My ISO was at 1600 and my shutter was 1/200 s at f7.1.”

The Aug. 11 Sturgeon Moon (named for the giant sturgeon of the Great L0akes that are most readily caught in late summer) is just over the horizon – the final supermoon of the year.

[Photo Credit: Lily Fletcher/KHS Photography]