The world is set to witness the June’s full moon, known as Strawberry Moon, on June 14 (Tuesday). At 7.51am Eastern Daylight Time (5.22pm IST) that day, the moon will be at its closest point in its orbit around the Earth, called perigee, which will make it appear like a “supermoon”.
Supermoons appear brighter and larger to people on Earth, providing spectacular night time gazing if skies are clear.
On Tuesday, it will come within 222,238 miles of Earth (about 16,000 miles closer than its average distance) and is expected to be about 10 per cent brighter than the regular full moon.
According to space.com, the supermoon this year will be the lowest full moon of 2022, rising just 23.3 degrees above the horizon, according to NASA. It will be lowest because the event is coming just ahead of summer solstice on June 21.
“On the summer solstice, the Sun appears highest in the sky for the year. Full moons are opposite the sun, so a full moon near the summer solstice will be low in the sky,” according to a guide released by NASA.
The American space agency also said that this will give people a chance to spot craters and mountains on the lunar surface using a good telescope.
The Strawberry Moon doesn’t look like a strawberry, neither it is pink in colour. This name has been given to the full moon by native American tribes. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, “This name (Strawberry Moon) has been used by Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples, among others, to mark the ripening of ‘June-bearing’ strawberries that are ready to be gathered.”
This will be the first of the three summer supermoons.
The Virtual Telescope Project in Italy’s Ceccano will host a free livestream of the full moon on Tuesday. The webcast will begin at 3.15pm EDT (12.45am IST) and show live views of the moon.
