June 24: Skygazers will witness the Strawberry Moon, which is the first full moon after the summer solstice when it reaches its full phase, on Thursday.
The Moon will be bigger than its normal size due to its proximity to the Earth in its orbit, the June Moon will not be a Supermoon like the one that we observed in May.
Strawberry Moon marks the last full moon of the spring season and the first of the summer season. The summer season began on Monday in the northern hemisphere when the places located to the north of the equator witnessed the longest day of the year.
The Strawberry Moon got its name from ancient American tribes that marked the full moon with the beginning of the harvesting season for strawberries.
The full moon of June is known by different names in different parts of the world. It is known as the Rose Moon in Europe to mark the harvesting of roses. It is also referred to as the Honey Moon because it occurs when honey is ready to be harvested from hives to make mead.
It is called it Hot Moon in the northern hemisphere as it coincides with the beginning of the summer season.
In India, the full moon of Jyestha month is known as Vat Purnima.
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The Full Moon will be on June 24 and occur opposite the Sun in Earth-based longitude at 2:40 am EDT (Thursday) or 12:10 am IST (Friday).
“While this will be on Thursday for much of the Earth, from India Standard Time (IST) eastward to Line Islands Time, and the International Dateline, this will be on Friday morning. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from early Wednesday morning through early Saturday morning,” NASA said.
“The orbit of the Moon around the Earth is almost in the same plane as the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. When the Sun appears highest in the sky near the summer solstice, the full Moon opposite the Sun generally appears lowest in the sky. Particularly for Europe’s higher latitudes, the full Moon nearest the summer solstice shines through more atmosphere than at other times of the year. This can give the full Moon a reddish or rose colour, mainly because it is the colour of the rising sun,” according to NASA.
