Look up tonight! Full Strawberry Moon will be the LOWEST in UK skies since 2006 - here's the best time to see the rare phenomenon

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

If you love skygazing, you won't want to miss a rare viewing opportunity tonight – and you should be able to catch it before you go to bed.
According to astronomers, the Full Strawberry Moon will be lower in the sky than any full moon since 2006.
A Strawberry Moon is simply the full moon when it appears in June.
This year, it will coincide with a rare celestial phenomenon called the 'major lunar standstill' which makes the moon appear lower.
It should be visible as long as you're in the Northern Hemisphere – but the further north you are, the closer to the horizon the moon will seem.
'The moon will appear unusually low on the southern horizon,' Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, told MailOnline.
'It will appear very dramatic, especially in northern parts of the UK.'
Here's everything you need to know about the rare celestial event.
What is the Strawberry Moon?
Strawberry Moon is simply the name traditionally given to the full moon when it appears in the month of June.
But it's a common misconception that the name 'Strawberry Moon' refers to the moon's colour or any kind of resemblance to the popular summer fruit.
Whenever the full moon appears, it is given a nickname depending on the month of the year – a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
So January is Wolf Moon, February is Snow Moon, March is Worm Moon, April is Pink Moon, May is Flower Moon and so on.
June's full moon is known as Strawberry Moon because it historically appeared when the strawberry harvest first took place.
Will the moon be lower than usual?
The June full moon will be lower than usual this year due to an astronomical phenomenon called 'major lunar standstill'.
What is major lunar standstill?
Major lunar standstill is when moonrise and moonset are furthest apart along Earth's horizon.
This astronomical event occurs once every 18.6 years, last occurring in 2006.
During a major lunar standstill, the northernmost and southernmost positions of the moon are at their furthest apart along the horizon.
It is believed that these distinct lunar movements may have been observed during the early phase of Stonehenge, potentially influencing the monument's design and purpose.
Occurring about once every 18.6 years, a major lunar standstill is when moonrise and moonset are furthest apart along the horizon, as viewed from Earth.
It means the moon appears unusually low in the horizon and the sun unusually high in the Northern Hemisphere.
At the same time, the moon appears unusually high and the sun unusually low in the Southern Hemisphere.
Major lunar standstill actually lasts for a period of roughly two years, which is why we saw a very low Strawberry Moon this time last year, but this month it'll be lower.
This week marks the lowest a full moon has been in the sky since 2006 – and it won't be this low again until 2043.
According to Dr Massey, the best time to see the event is simply when the moon rises – which in London is 21:18 BST tonight and at 22:20 BST tomorrow night – meaning you won't have to camp out all night for this one.
The website Time and Date lets you search for a specific location and see exactly when the moon rises in your area.
It's worth noting the moon will be lower the further north you are – so it will be especially low in places like northern Scotland and the Shetland Islands.
How will the moon look different?
The moon will appear to take on different coloured hues, although this is a trick of the light and usually depends on how low it is on the horizon.
'A red or yellow colored moon usually indicates a moon seen near the horizon,' NASA says.
'There, some of the blue light has been scattered away by a long path through the Earth's atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust.
'A blue-colored moon is more rare and can indicate a moon seen through an atmosphere carrying larger dust particles.'
But the moon may also appear slightly bigger.
When the moon is especially close to the horizon, our brains experience something called the 'Moon Illusion',
The optical illusion causes the moon to appear bigger compared to when it's higher in the sky (although scientists still aren't sure why or how it works).
What's the forecast like?
According to the latest update from the Met Office, the clearest, cloud-free skies tonight will be in the north of Britain.
'It will be dry for most tonight, with variable cloud and clear spells,' Met Office spokesperson Andrea Bishop told MailOnline.
'Western parts will tend to cloud over later, with some low cloud and fog patches likely in the south where it is mild.'
if you don't get a chance to see the Strawberry Moon tonight, you'll get another chance on Wednesday night, but conditions won't be as good.
'Wednesday will be a cloudier night than Tuesday, with the east hopefully staying dry with clear spells,' said Bishop.
'Showers will affect some western and then central areas though, followed by a more organised area of thundery rain, which may be heavy, moving erratically north across western areas overnight, which may affect visibility.'
Full moon, supermoon, Strawberry moon: What's the difference?
A FULL MOON is the phase of the moon in which its whole disc is illuminated.
During the 29.5-day lunar cycle, we observe a new moon (with 0 per cent illumination), a waxing moon (when the amount of illumination on the moon is increasing), a full moon (100 per cent illumination) and then a waning moon (when its visible surface area is getting smaller).
Because our modern calendar isn't quite in line with the Moon's phases, sometimes we get more than one full Moon in a month. This is commonly known as a blue moon.
Meanwhile, a SUPERMOON is when the full moon nearly coincides with perigee – the point in the orbit of the moon at which it is nearest to the Earth.
This means a supermoon can appear as much as 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter than when it's furthest away from Earth.
There are about three or four supermoons per year, most astronomy websites claim, and they happen at different times each year.
In a nutshell, a supermoon is a full moon. But it's bigger and brighter than a normal full moon.
Lastly, STRAWBERRY MOON simply refers to the time of the year the full moon is appearing.
In June, it's known as Strawberry Moon because because it historically appeared when the strawberry harvest first took place.
Other months of the year correspond to different nicknames - so January is Wolf Moon, February is Snow Moon, March is Worm Moon, April is Pink Moon, May is Flower Moon and so on.
Full moon names were historically used to track the seasons and therefore are closely related to nature.
The full list of full moon nicknames:
February: Snow Moon to coincide with heavy snow.
April: Pink Moon as it heralded the appearance of Phlox subulata or moss pink – one of spring's first flowers.
May: Flower Moon because of the abundance of blossoms.
July: Buck Moon as it arrived when a male deer's antlers were in full growth mode.
August: Sturgeon Moon after the large fish that was easily caught at this time.
September: Corn Moon because this was the time to harvest corn.