Topline
The full strawberry moon — the final full moon of spring in the Northern Hemisphere — will turn full on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. However, it will be best seen at moonrise on Tuesday, June 10 as it appears in the east during dusk. It takes its name from the ripening of summer berries in North America during June. It’s also the lowest-hanging full moon not only of the year, but since 2006 because of a once-in-18.6-years occurrence called the “major lunar standstill.”
Key Facts
The strawberry moon will turn full at 3:45 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 10 days before the solstice on Saturday, June 21, 2025. It will look full the night before and the night after it’s officially 100%-lit by the sun, but the best time to watch it rise is at moonrise during dusk on Tuesday, June 10.
EarthSky says June’s full moon is the strawberry, flower and rose moon. Cultural and seasonal names for the full moon vary hugely across the world.
A full moon always looks at its best not when it’s high in the sky at night, but when it first appears above the eastern horizon during dusk. The sight is at its best when the moon rises shortly after sunset. That timing is good this month for North America, with the moon rising a few minutes after sunset.
As well as being the latest at night to rise of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, June’s strawberry moon is also always the lowest-hanging full moon of the year. This happens because the full moon is opposite the sun, by definition, so it mirrors the sun’s position. For example, the full moon is at its lowest when the sun is at its highest. In practice, that means it never gets very high in the sky.
To see the full strawberry moon at its best, find an elevated location, an open field or an east-facing coastline with a clear view of the eastern horizon.
Best Time To See The Full ‘strawberry Moon’ Rise
To find the best time to see it appear from where you are, consult a moonrise calculator. Here are some sample times :
- New York: sunset at 8:26 p.m. EDT, moonrise at 8:27 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 11.
- Los Angeles: sunset at 8:04 p.m. PDT, moonrise at 8:06 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, June 11.
- London: sunset at 9:16 p.m. BST, moonrise at 9:19 p.m. BST on Wednesday, June 11.
The Role Of The ‘major Lunar Standstill’
This year there’s another reason why June’s full moon is the lowest of the year — the moon’s current major lunar standstill. This once-every-18.6 years period, which lasts for about a year — is caused by the tilts of the moon and Earth being at their maximum — meaning the moon rises and sets at the farthest points on its range on the horizon. In practice, the moon in June 2025 will rise farther to the southeast than at any time since 2006, stay low in the southern sky all night (about five degrees lower in the sky than the sun does on the winter solstice), and set as far to the southwest as it ever can.
Background
The strawberry moon is the sixth of 12 full moons in 2025. The solar year is 365.24 days, while our lunar year is around 354.37 days, so sometimes there are 13 full moons in one calendar (solar) year — as in 2023 and next in 2028. Of the 12 full moons in 2024, three will be “supermoons” and two “blood moon” total lunar eclipses (the first happened on March 13-14, and the next lunar eclipse is on Sept. 7-8).
The next full moon is the buck moon, which will occur on Thursday, July 10. It will be the first full moon of the Northern Hemisphere’s astronomical season of summer (and winter in the Southern Hemisphere), which begins on the date of the June solstice on Saturday, June 21, 2025.
