Artistic concept of a “strawberry” supermoon.
The next full moon is the strawberry supermoon; mead, honey or the pink moon; the Moon Flower, Hot, Hoe or Planted; Vat Purnima; Poson Poya; and the LRO Moon.
Many cultures that go back in history have different names for the twelve full moons experienced each year. The names of the full moons often sound literally colorful, such as the name “Strawberry Supermoon,” where it’s easy to imagine something like the previous artist’s concept.
However, names are not usually based on a color, but are often names for an activity that takes place at this time of year. For example, the name “Strawberry Moon” comes from Native American Algonquin tribes living in what is now the northeastern United States and the relatively short season for strawberry harvesting in the region.
This Strawberry Moon is a special delight because it is not a normal full moon, but a supermoon. This happens when the Moon’s orbit is closer to Earth, which presents us with a larger and brighter full moon.
The next full moon will be on Tuesday morning, June 14, 2022, appearing in front of the Sun at Earth length at 7:52 am EDT. This will be late Monday night for the West International Date Line time zone, Tuesday for many of Earth’s time zones and Wednesday morning from Chatham’s standard east time zone. to the international date line. The Moon will appear full for about three days focused on this time, from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning.
The Moon is seen rising behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard a mobile launcher as it takes off for the 39B launch complex for the first time on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. . Credit: NASA / Aubrey Gemignani
A moon, many names
In the 1930s, the Maine Farmer’s Almanac began publishing Native American names for full moons. According to this almanac, the Algonquin tribes of what is now the northeastern United States called it the Strawberry Moon. The name comes from the relatively short season for the strawberry harvest in the region.
An ancient European name for this full moon is Mead or Honey Moon. Honeydew is a drink created by fermenting honey mixed with water and sometimes with fruit, spices, grains or hops. In some countries, Mead is also called Honey Wine (although in others Honey Wine is made differently). Some writings suggest that around the end of June was when the honey was ready for harvest, which made it the “sweetest” moon. The word “honeymoon” dates back to at least the 1500s in Europe. The tradition of calling the first month of marriage “honeymoon” may be tied to this full moon because of the custom of getting married in June or because the “honeymoon” is the “sweetest” moon of the year. There seems to be no evidence to support a 19th century theory that the word came into English from the custom of giving mead to newlyweds for their first month of marriage.
The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and refers to a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is at 90% of perigee, its closest approach to Earth. .
What is a Supermoon?
Another European name for this full moon is pink moon. Some sources indicate that the name “Rose Moon” comes from the roses that bloom at this time of year. Others indicate that the name comes from the color of the full moon. The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is almost in the same plane as the Earth’s orbit around the Sun (only about 5 degrees). On the summer solstice, the Sun appears highest in the sky during the year. The full moon is opposite the Sun, so a full moon near the summer solstice will be low in the sky. Particularly for the highest latitudes in Europe, when the full moon is low, it shines through more atmosphere, making it more likely to be reddish in color (for the same reasons as sunrises and sunsets). they are red). For the Washington, DC area, at 1:56 am EDT on the morning of June 15, 2022, the full moon at its maximum will reach only 23.3 degrees above the southern horizon, the lowest full moon of the year.
Other seasonal names of this full moon that I have found mentioned in various sources (sometimes with conflicting information about whether they are of European or Native American origin) are Flower Moon, Hot Moon, Hoe Moon, and Planting Moon.
For Hindus, this is Vat Purnima. During the three days of this full moon, married women will show their love for their husbands by tying a ceremonial thread around a banyan tree. The celebration is based on the legend of Savitri and Satyavan.
For Buddhists, this is Poson Poya. The Poson festival in Sri Lanka celebrates the introduction of Buddhism in 236 BC.
Another tribe has also given its name to this full moon. This tribe is now scattered, but lives mainly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The language of this tribe is mostly English, but with a bit of liberal acronyms, archaic scientific and engineering terms, and Hawaiian phrases (happily contributed by the former deputy project manager). Formed by people of all backgrounds, many of whom have joined other tribes, this tribe devoted itself to the study of the Moon. This tribe calls the June full moon LRO LRO, in honor of the spacecraft launched to the moon on June 18, 2009. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still orbiting the moon providing information about our celestial neighbor. closer, some of which help us understand our own planet.
The Strawberry Supermoon
This will be a supermoon. The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and refers to a new or full moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90% of the perigee, its closest approach to Earth. Since we cannot see a new moon (except when it passes in front of the sun), what has caught the public’s attention in recent decades is the full moon, as it is the largest and brightest full moon of the year. . Because perigee varies with each orbit, different publications use different thresholds to decide which full moons qualify as supermoons, but all agree that in 2022 the full moons of June and July are classified.
The Moon and the calendars
In many traditional lunar and lunisolar calendars, full moons fall in the middle of the lunar months. This full moon is in the middle of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, Sivan in the Hebrew calendar and Dhu al-Qadah in the Islamic calendar (one of the four sacred months during which war is forbidden).
As usual, the use of a heavenly dress suitable for the celebration of the full moon is encouraged.
Here is a summary of celestial events between now and the full moon after the next one (with time and angles based on the location of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC):
As spring ends and summer begins, the daily periods of sunlight reach their peak at the solstice and begin to shorten again. Solar days (as measured, for example, from sundown to sundial on a sundial) are more than 24 hours close to the solstice, so the first outings of the year occur before the solstice. summer and the last sunsets of the year occur later. the solstice.
This year, Monday and Tuesday, June 13 and 14, 2022, they are tied for the first sunrises of the year, with the sunrise at 5:42:11 am EDT and the morning twilight from at 4:30 am On Tuesday, June 14 (the day of the full moon), the morning twilight will begin at 4:30 am, the sunrise will be one of those first sunrises at 5:42 am, the solar noon will be at 13:08:24 pm when the Sun will reach its maximum height. of 74.41 degrees, the sunset will be at 20:35 and the twilight of the evening will end at 21:47
The summer solstice will be on Tuesday morning, June 21, at 5:13 p.m. On the day of the solstice, the morning twilight will begin at 4:31 am, the sunrise will be at 5:43 am, the solar noon will be at 1:00 am: At 9:49 pm, when the Sun reaches maximum year of the year at 74.56 degrees, the sunset will be at 20:37 (is the longest period from sunrise to sunset, 14 hours, 53 minutes, 42.1 seconds) and dusk will be sunset. ends at 9:49 p.m. On Monday and Tuesday, June 27 and 28, they are tied for the last sunsets of the year, with the sunset at 8:37:29 p.m. Wednesday, July 13 (full moon day after next), Morning twilight will start at 4:43 h, sunrise will be at 5:54 h, solar noon will be at 13:13 h : 53 h when the Sun reaches its maximum altitude of 72.87 degrees, the sunset will be at 20:34 h. , and the evening twilight will end at 9:44 p.m.
Highlights of the evening sky
On Tuesday evening, June 14, 2022 (full moon day) when the evening twilight ends at 21:47 EDT, the crescent moon will appear 3 degrees above the southeastern horizon. The brightest star closest to the top will be Arcturus at 70 degrees above the southern horizon. Arcturus, the fourth brightest star in our night sky, is about 37 light-years from Earth and almost the same mass as our Sun, but older. Arcturus has consumed its hydrogen core and has become a red giant, which inflates to about 25 times its previous size and shines about 170 times more than the Sun. Our Sun is about halfway through its life cycle and is expected to become a red giant in about 5 billion years.
As the lunar cycle progresses, the background of the stars will appear to move westward each evening (although in reality it is the Earth that moves around the Sun to the east). The crescent moon will pass near the bright stars Pollux on June 30, Regulus on July 2 and 3, Spica on July 7, and Antares on July 10, 2022.
On the evening of Wednesday, July 13, 2022, when the evening twilight ends (at 21:44 EDT), the full moon will appear 5 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Two bright stars will be linked by the one closest to the top, with Vega at 60 degrees above the east-northeast horizon and Arcturus at 59 degrees above the west-southwest horizon. Vega, …