The Old Farmer's Almanac, which began publishing full moon names in the 1930s, says some Native American tribes called July's full moon the "buck moon" because it occurs in early summer, when male deer (bucks) typically begin growing new antlers covered in velvety fur.

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.