Moon calendar for July 2027

Day by day

Key days of the month

Dog days and the Milky Way

Dog days is not a metaphor about heat. The phrase comes from Sirius, the Dog Star, returning to the dawn sky at this point in the summer, which the Romans held responsible for the temperature. July nights stay short and warm, and that suits the Milky Way - thickest in the south, where Sagittarius and Scorpius sit with red Antares just above the roofs. The Delta Aquariids trickle in late in the month, with the first Perseids appearing alongside them.

Buck Moon, Thunder Moon

July's moon is named for antlers: bucks are regrowing theirs in velvet, and by now the difference is impossible to miss. Thunder Moon is the alternative, from the storms that build over hot afternoons, and Hay Moon is the English farming version - mowing, turning, and getting the crop under cover before the thunder arrives. Three names for one month, and every one of them about work rather than mood.

July's questions

Why can I see the Moon in daylight? Because it is bright and often far enough from the Sun not to be washed out - a pale half disc in a blue afternoon is normal for roughly half of every month. The coast supplies the other regular: spring tides. At new and full moon the Sun and Moon pull together, the tidal range grows, and the holiday tide table tends to agree with the key days above.

The Moon’s position is astronomy; the beliefs and interpretations are tradition, not scientific fact.