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.m. Eastern on Thursday, with best viewing during the predawn and again after dark in the evening.

The seventh full moon of the year will illuminate the night sky this evening. Known as the 'buck moon', it follows on from June's 'strawberry moon'. Every month the moon's stages are followed closely by astronomers and every full moon of the year has its own informal nickname.

The moon and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye that morning, but skywatchers will need a telescope to see the “far dimmer” Neptune, National Geographic said. Californians can spot shooting stars sprinting across the night sky as the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower peaks at the end of the month.