In Photos: Full ‘Strawberry Moon’ Marks Once-in-18-Years Event!
The sixth full moon of 2024, called the “Strawberry Moon,” made a spectacular appearance in the evening skies on Friday.
This event not only signaled the change of seasons, with astronomical summer beginning in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, but also coincided with a rare “major lunar standstill” not seen since 2006.
Here are some of the most captivating images of the full “Strawberry Moon” from around the world.
The best time to view the “Strawberry Moon” was during dusk on Friday, June 21.
As it rose, it displayed a beautiful muted orange color on the eastern horizon, just after sunset in the west.
Known for being the latest-rising full moon of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the “Strawberry Moon” is always the lowest-hanging full moon.
This is because it mirrors the sun's position; when the sun is at its highest, the full moon, being opposite the sun, will be at its lowest point in the sky.
This year, the effect was even more pronounced due to the once-every-18.6 years major lunar standstill.
During this period, the tilts of the moon and Earth are at their maximum, causing the moon to rise and set at the furthest points on the horizon.
The moon rose about five degrees beyond the ecliptic, the sun’s path through the sky, making it appear about five degrees lower than the sun does on the winter solstice.
This was best observed at Friday’s full moonrise.
The dark patches visible on the moon, known as maria, are solidified lava plains from about three billion years ago.
Mare Tranquillitatis, or the “Sea of Tranquility,” was the landing site of Apollo 11 in 1969, the first time humans landed on the moon.
This feature can be seen on the left-hand side of the moon when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere.
The moon always shows the same face to Earth because it is tidally locked to our planet.
Your location on Earth greatly influences how you perceive the moon and its phases.
For instance, people in the Northern Hemisphere viewing the moon from the Southern Hemisphere will notice that it appears upside down.
This effect is due to the moon orbiting Earth around its equator, appearing directly overhead at the equator and closer to the horizon at the poles.
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 will be best seen at moonrise later that day.
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