Full Moon June 2007: Strawberry Moon
The June full moon marked the short strawberry harvesting season for Algonquin peoples. Times convert to your time zone (showing UTC).
Peak fullness (showing UTC)
- Name
- Strawberry Moon
- Distance
- 398,790 km
- Type
- Average
About the Strawberry Moon
The June full moon marked the short strawberry harvesting season for Algonquin peoples.
Europeans knew it as the Rose Moon or Honey Moon, and the latter may be the origin of the word honeymoon, since June was a traditional wedding month. It is also called the Hot Moon for the start of summer heat.
The Strawberry Moon is the lowest-riding full moon of the year in the northern hemisphere, hugging the horizon and often appearing large and golden.
Lore
The brief strawberry season of June gave the Algonquin name; in Europe the same moon was the Rose Moon or Honey Moon, when honey was harvested and June weddings were toasted with mead, one suggested origin of the word honeymoon.
Trivia
- The Strawberry Moon is the lowest full moon of the year in the northern hemisphere, hugging the southern horizon.
- Its low position tints it amber through the thick air near the horizon, so it is often photographed looking golden.
- Near the June solstice the full moon is up for the shortest time of the year.
Second full moon of the month (showing UTC)
- Name
- Blue Moon (Strawberry Moon)
- Distance
- 389,462 km
- Type
- Average
About the Blue Moon
A second full moon in one calendar month. It happens about every two and a half years and has nothing to do with color.
The monthly definition became popular after a 1946 Sky and Telescope article misread the Maine Farmers' Almanac, which used an older seasonal rule: the third full moon in a season that has four. Both definitions are in use today. The phrase "once in a blue moon" predates both and simply means rarely.
Because the calendar month decides it, a Blue Moon in one time zone can be an ordinary full moon in another when the full moon falls within hours of midnight on the first or last day of the month.
Lore
The phrase once in a blue moon is older than any astronomical definition and originally meant something absurd or never. The modern rule, a second full moon in one calendar month, spread from a 1946 magazine article and a 1980s radio programme. Genuinely blue-looking moons have been seen after huge volcanic eruptions and forest fires, when smoke particles scatter red light.
Trivia
- Monthly Blue Moons happen about every 2.7 years.
- The older seasonal rule calls the third full moon of a season with four the Blue Moon.
- After Krakatoa erupted in 1883 the Moon appeared blue or green for nearly two years.
All moon phases in June 2007
| Phase | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| Full Moon | |
| Last Quarter | |
| New Moon | |
| First Quarter | |
| Full Moon |
See the whole month day by day on the moon phases calendar for your city.