July 9 was predicted to have a shorter "length of day" than usual due to an increase in Earth's rotation speed. See which other days will be shorter

Earth is set to experience unusually short days in July and August 2025. The Moon's orbital position is subtly accelerating Earth's rotation. These days will be milliseconds shorter, impacting precision systems.

Right now, Earth is about 3.1 million miles farther from the sun than it is in early January when it reaches perihelion, its closest point. Compared to its average distance of 93 million miles, that’s only about a 3.3% difference.

The July 2025 full 'Buck Moon' will give stargazers an opportunity to appreciate several distinct quirks of orbital mechanics at work! For starters, it falls close to the summer solstice, a time of the year when the sun rides particularly high in the sky, while the moon tracks a low path over the southern horizon.

Because Earth moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun, being further away means it travels slower along its orbit. This increases the time it takes to get from the solstice, the beginning of summer, to the equinox, the end of summer, effectively making the season longer in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Timeanddate.com.

“Earth’s orbit is fairly circular,” said Larry Wasserman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, ... At aphelion, Earth’s distance from the sun is about 94.5 million miles.

While high or low clouds are expected in various areas across Michigan overnight July 10, forecasters expect the buck moon to remain visible in most regions in the early part of the night, per the weather service. No, the buck moon is not a supermoon.

We see some of our hottest temps when Earth is furthest from the Sun (aphelion) and coolest at the closest to the Sun (perihelion),