June's strawberry supermoon illuminates skies around the world
The strawberry supermoon illuminated skies around the world on Tuesday and early Wednesday, allowing spectators to view the lowest full moon of the year.
According to NASA, the full moon was at its closest point to the Earth for this orbit at 7:24 p.m. EDT Tuesday. It was close enough to be considered a supermoon, making it the second one of 2022.
It appeared full Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. As the lowest full moon of 2022, it reached only 23.3 degrees above the horizon Wednesday at 1:56 a.m. EDT, NASA said.
How did strawberry moon gets its name?
The name has nothing to do with its color. Traditionally, the strawberry moon is the full moon in June, which is typically the last of spring or first of summer.
According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, the name was used by Native American Algonquin tribes that live in northeastern U.S. and Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples. It was used to mark the ripening of strawberries ready to be gathered in June.
How to watch the strawberry supermoon
After sunset, sky gazers were recommended to look southeast to watch the full moon rise above the horizon, the Almanac said. It reached peak illumination earlier, on Tuesday, at 7:52 a.m. EDT, but it wasn't visible in North American time zones until Tuesday evening, as some parts of the world have already saw the supermoon. The Almanac can calculate moonrise and moonset times based on your location here.
"Full moons are a fun time to observe lunar features, as the rest of the sky will be washed out by the light. With the naked eye, you can see the vast highlands and lowlands of the moon, which can appear to be certain shapes and generate stories about those shapes, depending on the culture you follow," according to Space.com.
A free livestream from the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy was supposed to show the full moon rise over Rome, but cloudy weather didn't allow for it.
And if you missed this supermoon, there will be another on July 13.