The last supermoon of the year will be gracing our skies tonight. Although some don’t actually consider it to be one. Here’s how you can view it for yourself in Australia.
It’s been a big few months for supermoons. First we had the Pink Supermoon back in April, followed by the Blood Moon (which was also a lunar eclipse) last month.
Now we have the cutely-named ‘strawberry’ supermoon, which will be the last for 2021. However, according to some it’s not technically a supermoon, but we’ll get to that.
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What’s a strawberry supermoon?
While the name may imply that it’s pink, sadly it won’t be. According to the Farmer’s Alamanac, the name ‘strawberry’ moon comes from the time of the year where berries are ready to be harvested in parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s also worth noting that every moon has a name attached to it. And traditionally it’s applied to the entire lunar cycle, not just a super or even full moon.
Here’s a list of the traditional names given to the moon each month:
- January: Wolf Moon
- February: Snow Moon
- March: Worm Moon
- April: Pink Moon
- May: Flower Moon
- June: Strawberry Moon
- July: Buck Moon
- September: Harvest Moon
- October: Hunter’s Moon
- November: Beaver Moon
- December: Cold Moon
Okay but what’s a supermoon?
A super moon is the name given to a full moon that is in perigee. In other words, when the moon is comparatively close to earth. Now the actual distance can vary between sources. According to NASA Science, the moon is in perigee if it comes within 363,300 km of Earth. But Farmer’s Almanac places it at 360,000km.
And that distinction is important this month, as the strawberry full moon will be 361,558 km from the Earth. This means that some will consider it a supermoon, while others won’t.
Regardless, these numbers are really close and a regular person isn’t going to notice the difference. The moon is going to look big.
How to watch it in Australia
The strawberry supermoon will rise on June 24 at 4:14pm AEST. While it will start moving further away over the coming days, it will still remain quite big and bright until June 26.