As the full moon rose on the Summer Solstice on June 20, photographers around the world prepared to capture a rare event: The “Strawberry Moon.”
The last time the moon was full on the longest day of the year was in 1948, according to NASA (some sources cite the so-called “summer of love” of 1967, but the two events technically happened on different days in some time zones).
Algonquins gave this celestial body its name, since the June full moon marked the start of the strawberry-picking season. It is alternately called the Honey, Mead, or Rose Moon.
“Having a full moon land smack on the solstice is a truly rare event,” writes astronomer Bob Berman in the Old Farmer’s Almanac. “The Sun gets super high so this Moon must be super-low. This forces its light through thicker air, which also tends to be humid this time of year, and the combination typically makes it amber-colored.”
The Summer Solstice full moon, dubbed the Strawberry Moon, rises above Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England on June 20, 2016. Courtesy photographer Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
Hanging low in the sky, and glowing with a warm honey-colored hue—not pink, as one Photoshop-happy Instagrammer suggested—the Strawberry Moon made for some truly fabulous photographs shot throughout the Northern hemisphere. In New York, the moon rose following a particularly spectacular orange sunset.
Impressive lunar and solar events regularly captivate photographers, including the Supermoon of September 2014, the Solar Eclipse of March 2015, and the Blood Moon eclipse of the September 2015.
For those who missed out, there’s bad news: The Summer Solstice and Strawberry Moon won’t happen together again until 2062, according to EarthSky.
See more photos of the Strawberry Moon below.
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