The Winter Solstice is expected to be very bright this year, thanks to the arrival of a full moon.
Image: capt_tain Tom/Flickr
Today was the shortest day of the year, with the solstice peaking at 8:34am AEST. When a full moon also coincides with the Summer Solstice it’s called a Strawberry Moon, named for when Algonquin tribes used the solstice as a signal for when fruits were ready for picking, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. Though it’s the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, the Northern Hemisphere (for whom it is the Summer Solstice) have been excited to see the Strawberry Moon.
This is a rare event for skygazers, as we’ll be seeing a Strawberry Moon for the first time in decades (how many years exactly is up to debate. The Almanac says this is the first one in 70 years, while EarthSky says the last one was in 1967, ushering in the Summer of Love).
It’s such an event that the Almanac co-hosted a live stream from Slooh’s observatory in the Canary Islands, which you can catch up with here.