The sixth full moon of 2024, also known as the “Strawberry Moon,” made a stunning appearance in evening skies on Friday and signaled a change in the seasons.
It coincided with the beginning of astronomical summer north of the equator and the start of winter south of the equator, but also marked a rare “major lunar standstill” not seen since 2006.
Here’s a collection of the most captivating images of the full “Strawberry Moon” from across the globe.
The best time to see the “Strawberry Moon” at its brightest and best was during dusk on Friday, June 21. As it rose it displayed a beautiful muted orange color when viewed on the eastern horizon just after sunset in the west.
The latest at night to rise of the year in the northern hemisphere, the “Strawberry Moon” is always the lowest-hanging full moon. That’s because it mirrors the sun’s position; when the sun is at its highest, the full moon—which is opposite the sun—will be at its lowest. In practice, that means it never gets very high in the sky.
However, this year that’s even more extreme because of the once-every-18.6 years major lunar standstill. When the tilts of the moon and Earth are at their maximum, the moon rises and sets at the furthest points on its range on the horizon.
The moon will rise about five degrees beyond the ecliptic, the sun’s path through the sky. So the moon will rise, hang and set about five degrees lower in the sky than the sun does on the winter solstice. It was best viewed at Friday’s full moonrise.
The dark patches on the moon are known as maria, solidified lava plains from about three billion years ago. Mare Tranquillitatis—the “Sea of Tranquility”—was the landing place of Apollo 11 in 1969, the first time humans landed on the moon.
It can be seen on the left-hand side of the moon as seen from the northern hemisphere. We always see the same side of the moon because it’s tidally locked to Earth.
Where you are on Earth greatly affects how you see the moon and its phases. Anyone from the northern hemisphere seeing the moon from the southern hemisphere will think it looks upside down.
It’s because the moon orbits Earth around its equator. From the equator it passes directly overhead while at the poles it only appears close to the horizon.
Earth’s only natural satellite, the moon is about a sixth the size of Earth and the fifth largest moon in the solar system after Io, Callisto and Ganymede at Jupiter and Titan at Saturn.
The next full moon, known as the “Buck Moon,” will occur at 6:17 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 21, 2024, and be best seen at moonrise later that day.
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Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
