A Strawberry moon sets just before sunrise behind the Statue of Liberty in New York City on June 4, 2023. The next full moon is Monday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
The first full moon of the summer will rise on Monday evening, and it will also be one of the smallest full moons of the year.
June’s full moon is known as the Strawberry Moon, a name tied to the strawberry harvest season in North America. Other nicknames include the Green Corn Moon, Blooming Moon and Birth Moon, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
The moon will not actually appear dark red like a strawberry, but it may take on a slight orange or reddish tint when it first appears above the horizon. That color shift is caused by light scattering through Earth’s atmosphere, similar to the way some sunsets appear more vivid than others.
The full moon arrives just over a week after the summer solstice and will appear slightly smaller than usual in the sky, a phenomenon called a “micromoon.”
“A micromoon is a full or new moon that occurs when the moon is roughly at its farthest from Earth in its orbit,” EarthSky explained.
On Monday evening, the moon will be about 251,926 miles from Earth, compared to its average distance of roughly 238,900 miles.
This is the second micromoon of the year, following one at the end of May. The next micromoon will not occur until the summer of 2027.
Artemis II crew returns to Earth
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, with the four-member Artemis II crew aboard, is seen under parachutes as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday after its nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo
