2 days ago
Strawberry moon set to be visible across Irish skies
The strawberry moon will be visible across Irish skies this evening.
The appearance of the strawberry moon is a rare one, as it occurs once every 18 years.
The moon gets its name from native American tribes, who used it to mark the start of the strawberry-picking season.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Assistant Professor Ray Butler, of the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Galway, said that he expects the moon to be salmon-pink in colour.
He added that smoke from wildfires in the US will also impact what the moon will look like this evening.
"Smoke from the wildfires crossed over and light passing through the smoke is reddened ... especially at low altitude in the sky. This particular June full moon is very low above the sun horizon, about eight degrees up," he said.
"The combination of a low altitude which always makes things a little yellower, warmer in colour, and now this extra smoke will make it kind of particularly pronounced.
"I would expect salmony-pink, because of these two effects," he added.
Mr Butler said that while the strawberry moon will appear to be bigger in size, it will actually remain the same size as normal.
"It'll be a normal size. There is an interesting psychological thing when the moon is close to the horizon, we think it's bigger than when it's higher in the sky. Of course it isn't actually.
"If you look at something on a distant horizon ... they look really small. Therefore the moon, in contrast, looks big relative to them," he said.
Mr Butler added that the strawberry moon will be visible throughout the night tonight, and will be clearest in the south east this evening, the south in the middle of the night and south west towards dawn.
