The June strawberry moon is rising this evening. Here is what to expect the lowest full moon since 2006
Look – or rather, below – tonight to locate the lowest full moon in almost two decades. The full moon of this month will drive on the southern horizon thanks to a orbital phenomenon known as the major lunar judgment.
Called the “strawberry moon”, the full moon of June was named by the Algonquian, after the season of harvesting short fruits which coincides with its appearance each year. The phase of the full moon occurred technically at 3 h 44 Hae (0744 GMT) on June 11 for New York viewers, although its disc appears completely lit when it rises above the southeast horizon at sunset on June 10.
The lunar disc seems always bigger in Moonrise thanks to “the illusion of the moon”, a tip of the brain which makes that the natural satellite of the earth seems greater than when it is close to the horizon. The moon will probably take a yellow-orange shade, because the atmosphere of our planet disperses the shorter blue wavelengths of the reflected light from the sun.
Read the rest to learn more about the moon orbit and how the main lunar stop will affect the path of the strawberries through the night sky.
What is a lunar stop?
The sun seems to travel through the sky of the earth along an imaginary line called the ecliptic, which is tilted by 23.5 degrees compared to the celestial equator of our planet (the plane of the equator of the earth projected in space). The orbital path of the moon is also tilted at around 5 degrees to the ecliptic, which is why we do not see an eclipse each time the moon goes near the sun during its monthly phase of the new moon.
The gravitational influence of our sun constantly shoots on the moon, which rotates its orbit tilted in an 18.6 -year cycle, according to the Griffith observatory in Los Angeles. We are in the midst of a major lunar status – the two -year period of the lunar cycle when the tilted orbit of the moon is at its greatest inclination compared to the celestial equator.
During this period, the moon rises and is placed at more extreme positions on the horizon while climbing very high or low in the sky, depending on the time of the year. The moon of the Complete June strawberry approaches the summer solstice of the northern hemisphere, when the sun follows its highest path above our heads and the lunar disc goes up a low track accordingly in the night sky.
This year, the seasonal altitude of Strawberry’s moon will be made more extreme by the “Larar stop”, resulting in the lowest moon in more than a decade, according to Earthsky.org. Indeed, the last time that a large lunar obstacle occurred, it was in 2006, and a similar event will not happen before 2043.
Publisher’s note: If you capture an image of the full moon and want to share your astrophotography with Space.compassionate readers, please send the images (s), as well as your name, comments and your location, to spacephotos@space.com.
