Summer Solstice and June's Strawberry Full Moon visible from tonight!

WhatThe
WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing
in Coffee lounge

This Strawberry Full Moon coincides with the 2024 Summer Solstice but I can't find exact times for the UK - online sources vary so I hope someone know more about when it peaks tomorrow night.

Comments

  • Jimm_Scope
    Jimm_Scope Posts: 5,409 Scope Online Community Specialist

    I was just thinking about starting a Summer Solstice discussion @WhatThe! You beat me to it 😊

    Happy Summer Solstice! I can't say I've heard of a Strawberry Moon before. I assume the name is to do with strawberry harvesting at this time of year? Like how we have the Harvest Moon, and sometimes the full moons in autumn can be called the Hunters/Hunting Moon.

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing

    June: Strawberry Moon

    June’s Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon as the little red berries ripen at this time and could be gathered by the Native American tribes. Other native names are Berries Ripen Moon, Green Corn Moon, and Hot Moon.

    The Celtic names are Mead Moon, Horse Moon, Dyan Moon, and Rose Moon. Other English names are Flower Moon and Planting Moon.

    What's special about the 2024 Strawberry Moon?

    Because it falls the day after the summer solstice, June 2024's Strawberry Moon will be the lowest full moon of the year, making it appear much bigger than usual, according to NASA.

    Inquisitive Palomino horse with a white blaze standing in a field at sunset. The mountains and sky glow red from the setting sun.

    The June Full Moon is also known as the Horse Moon. Ancient cultures named the Full Moons from animals, plants, nature, and the seasons.

    ©iStockphoto.com/Natalie Goldsmith

    The 12 Full Moon Names and Meanings

    The Full Moon has been integral to tracking the change of months and seasons since ancient times.

    Although the most commonly used Full Moon names are English interpretations of Native American names, some are also Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, medieval English, and Neo-Pagan.

    Many of the names come from the Colonial Americans adopting Native American names into their calendars, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

    Traditional Full Moon Names

    1. Wolf Moon – January
    2. Snow Moon – February
    3. Worm Moon – March
    4. Pink Moon – April
    5. Flower Moon – May
    6. Strawberry Moon – June
    7. Buck Moon – July
    8. Sturgeon Moon – August
    9. Harvest Moon – September or October
    10. Full Corn Moon (Harvest) – September
    11. Hunter's Moon (Harvest) – October
    12. Beaver Moon – November
    13. Cold Moon – December

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing

    From the Royal Observatory in Greenwich -

    When is the summer solstice in 2024?

    In 2024 the summer solstice will occur on Thursday 20 June at 21.51 BST (20.51 GMT).

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing

    It's been a long day 😄

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 4,693 Scope Online Community Coordinator
    edited June 2024

    Did you manage to see the moon last night @WhatThe? Was it looking strawberry already? I'll keep an eye out tonight!

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 3,491 Championing

    The moon looked very impressive from here last night. Very low and quite rich in colour. Will make a point of checking for it tonight. 🙂

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing

    OverlyAnxious, the Moon tonight will again be very low in the sky and a very rich orange


    CNN — 

    Despite its name, June’s full moon will not look like a strawberry. But the bright orb could still turn heads Friday night with an appearance that is bigger and more colorful than the average moon.

    The full moon comes one day after the summer solstice, the day of the year when the sun appears the highest in the sky for the Northern Hemisphere. Since a full moon is opposite the sun, this strawberry moon will shine lower in the sky than usual, according to NASA.

    Because of this “lower than average path across the sky,” the full moon could have an “orange- or amber-colored appearance, for the same reason sunsets appear orange or reddish”.

    Dyches said the effect is the result of the moon’s reflected light having to travel a longer distance throughout Earth’s atmosphere, scattering away most blue wavelengths (which are shorter than red wavelengths).

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 3,491 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/879565#Comment_879565

    Thanks. I couldn't see it last night. Was very cloudy here. And I think it may have been lower than houses/trees as I couldn't even see any glow from behind the clouds. Did anyone else see it? 🙂

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 2,777 Championing

    Yes but not until midnight and I live on the top floor - I saw it below the tree tops from up here so it was very low in the sky!

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 4,693 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    I didn't catch it either, it was too cloudy 😕 Hope some of you were able to see it!

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