Strawberry Moon Can Be Seen During Summer Solstice-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
The Summer Solstice brings a rare astronomical phenomenon called the “strawberry moon” this year.
The Truth:
It’s true that the Summer Solstice will coincidentally coincide with the strawberry moon this year — but the strawberry moon doesn’t get its name from its color.
The “strawberry moon” is a folk term used to describe June’s full moon because that astrological event has been long said to mark the height of the strawberry growing season. The Farmer’s Almanac explains:
– Full Strawberry Moon – June This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!
Bob Mernan, an astronomer at the Farmer’s Almanac, told the Daily Telegraph that the strawberry moon offers appears in a light amber hue because of its position in the sky relative to the sun:
“The sun gets super high so this moon must be super-low. This forces its light through thicker air, which also tends to be humid this time of year, and the combination typically makes (the moon) amber coloured.”
In 2016, the strawberry moon happened to fall on the Summer Solstice — June 23rd — for the first time since 1967, which helped it gain a little extra attention. Astronomers say that’s a “twice in a lifetime” occurrence.