Remember all the hoopla over the "super moon" last month? No doubt, it was the biggest, brightest and closest full moon of the year. But on Monday, July's full moon, barely 875 miles farther away than June's orb, is going to be pretty big and bright as well.

This month's full moon arrives near the 44th anniversary of Apollo 11's accomplishment: the first manned lunar landing.

I have vivid memories of being 13 and watching Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969. We were watching the historic event on a 12-inch black-and-with TV at the Catholic Youth Camp near McGregor, Minn. This year's event will be a little sad for me because it will be the first anniversary since the passing of Armstrong, one of my lifelong heroes.

Every full moon has several nicknames that reflect American and American Indian culture. One name for the full moon in July is "Buck Moon" because this is the time of year when male deer's antlers push out of their foreheads. Another nickname for the July full moon is "Thunder Moon" because of the frequency of thunderstorms this time of year.

The moon's surface is about half heavily cratered white highlands with mountains and half dark flat volcanic plains traditionally referred to as maria or seas. (A long time ago, those dark splotches were mistaken for bodies of water.) It was on one maria, the "Sea of Tranquility," that Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked.

When I gaze at a full moon, I always try to spot the man in the moon among the dark blotches that are made by the maria. For me, the man has many faces. I can see a sad face with dark, sunken eyes. I can see a surprised face resembling that vintage claymation character Mr. Bill from "Saturday Night Live." And I can see a kindly old man whose eyes reflect the wisdom of the ages.

There are other images to be seen in the maria. One of my favorites comes from Glen Chaple, a columnist for Astronomy Magazine. He sees a poodle on the right side of the moon. There's also an upside-down rabbit on the right side of the moon's face. My favorite image is one suggested recently by Facebook friend Linda Rawson, who sees a squirrel on the left side of the moon's face trying to balance a nut on a rock on the right.

Your turn. What do you see when you look at the full moon?


All this week, Mars and Jupiter will be less than 1 degree apart. That's less than the width of your forefinger held at arm's length. Look in the low eastern sky around 5 a.m. Jupiter is the brightest starlike object in that part of the sky, and Mars is just to the upper left it. Worth getting up early to see!
