The last time such an alignment – the summer solstice and a full moon – occurred was in 1948, the Baltimore Sun reported, citing the Almanac.
Advertisement
For the first time in almost five decades, there will be a full moon during the summer solstice.
SOLSTICE goers at Stonehenge were treated to a stunning sunrise this morning on the longest day of the year.
The other cool thing about tonight’s full moon that it is the fourth of a quartet of full moons to grace the sky between 2016’s March equinox and the summer solstice, also known as a Seasonal Blue Moon.
The coincidence of the strawberry moon and of the summer solstice changed the aspect of the moon as it rose in the sky.
The summer solstice last night clashed with a strawberry moon – a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
In that part of the planet, the summer solstice actually marks the day of the year with the least daylight.
It’s called a “strawberry moon”, named by the Algonquin people, according to the “The Old Farmer’s Almanac”, for the confluence of the full moon and the peak of the strawberry season. In Greece, photographers captured the moon with a pinkish glow above the Temple of Poseidon and in Somerset, England, tourists surrounded the Glastonbury Tor to celebrate the longest stretch of daylight north of the equator.
“Having a full Moon land smack on the solstice is a truly rare event”, Berman emphasized.
Which gives us a short night to observe the full moon.
In addition to that, contrary to its name, the strawberry moon is not pink or red.
Advertisement
Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science.
