On Tuesday and Wednesday, the strawberry supermoon lit up the sky around the globe, giving spectators the opportunity to see the lowest full moon of this year.
NASA reports that the full moon was in its closest orbit to Earth at 7:24 PM EDT Tuesday. It was close enough that it could be called a supermoon. This makes it the second of 2022.
It was full Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. NASA stated that it was the 2022 lowest full moon and reached 23.3 degrees above Earth’s horizon Wednesday morning at 1:56 AM EDT.
Its name does not have to do with the color. The strawberry moon, traditionally, is the full moon in June. This is usually the first or last day of spring.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac the Native American Algonquin tribes of Algonquin peoples who live in northeastern U.S.A and Ojibwe and Dakota used this name. It was used to identify the ripening stage of strawberries that were ready to be picked in June.
According to the Almanac, sky-gazers should look to the southeast after sunset to see the full moon rise above horizon. The supermoon reached its peak illumination on Tuesday at 7:52 AM EDT. However, it was not visible in North American time zones until Tuesday night, because some areas of the globe had already seen it. Based on your location, the Almanac can calculate the moonrise and sunset times.
Full moons can be a great time to see lunar features as the rest of sky will be washed away by the sun. Space.com says that you can see the highlands and lowlands, and can generate stories and images about these shapes with your naked eye.
The Virtual Telescope Project in Italy provided a livestream that was free and could show the full moon rising over Rome. Unfortunately, the weather prevented it from happening.
If you missed the supermoon, another one will be held on July 13.
