Moi University's ACEII PTRE student wins Eni Award 2023
A postgraduate student of Moi University’s Africa Centre of Excellence in Phytochemicals, Textile and Renewable Energy (ACEII PTRE) has been feted with the Eni Award 2023 in Rome, Italy.
A full super moon, rises behind a mountain in the Swiss Alps, seen from Chexbres, western Switzerland, on July 13, 2022. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
The first supermoon of 2023 which will be seen in July will appear brighter in the night sky compared to any other full moon that has been witnessed this year.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the full moon will be seen in the sky on Monday (July 3) and it will reach its illumination below the horizon at 7:39 am ET. Depending on the local weather conditions, the citizens of the United States can view the celestial event by gazing in the southeast after the sun sets.
Director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University Dr Shannon Schmoll said, “A supermoon is when the moon appears a little bit bigger in our sky. As the moon goes around the Earth, it’s not a perfect circle. So, there are points in its orbit where it’s a little bit closer or a little bit farther from the Earth.”
A supermoon occurs when the orb reaches the phase of the full moon at a point on its path when it comes in close proximity to the Earth. The moon appears slightly larger in size. Even though the naked eye may not be able to see the size difference between a typical full moon and a supermoon immediately, The Old Farmer’s Almanac stated that summer's first full moon will be more luminous and just 224,895.4 miles (361,934 kilometres) away from Earth.
Buck moon – the moon of July
The moon in the month of July is called the buck moon. July is the month when the antlers of the male deer grow during an annual cycle of regrowth and shedding, as per the almanac. The buck moon has several other names which come from Native American peoples, as per Western Washington University.
The names of the moon like hot moon refer to the season of summer while terms like ripe corn moon and raspberry moon have been coined as names to signify the best times for harvesting fruit and other crops.
While generally there are 12 full moons in a year, there will be 13 such lunar events in 2023. Two supermoons will be seen in August, which will include a blue moon that will be the closest moon to Earth this year, as per The Old Farmer’s Almanac. In the year 2023, the fourth and final supermoon in 2023 will rise on September 29.
The annual solar eclipse will be seen by people across North, Central and South America on October 14. When the solar eclipse will occur, the moon will be between Earth and the sun or close to its farthest point from Earth. The size of the moon will look smaller than the sun and will be encircled by a glowing halo.
