Look to the skies for a special viewing this week!
This first of three supermoons for 2022 will peak this week. Known by early Native American tribes in Algonquin as the “Strawberry Moon”, it signals the time of year to gather ripening fruit and coincides with the peak of the strawberry harvesting season. Other traditional names include the “Honey Moon” and the “Rose Moon”, for similar reasons such as roses blossoming at this time of year, and honey ripening.
The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun causing the moon’s face will be fully illuminated. The resulting ‘Super Full Moon’ will appear about 17% larger and 15% brighter than usual for the next 48 hours reaching its full brightness on Tuesday night.
The Moon is at its brightest and largest 🌕
Watch the sky at 7:52am ET (11:52 UTC) on June 14 to gaze upon the Strawberry supermoon—when the Moon is both in its full phase and near perigee, or its closest point in orbit around Earth.
Read our Moon guide: https://t.co/K0xnkQwDMc pic.twitter.com/HfbIUAgprR
— NASA (@NASA) June 13, 2022
While the full moon will reach peak illumination early Tuesday it will not be visible in North American time zones until this evening, when it drifts above the horizon due to its position in its orbit around Earth according to Almanac.com.
More information can be found at Timeanddate.com/super-strawberry-moon-2022 while information specific to Chicago’s moonrise can be found at Timeanddate.com/moon/usa/chicago here.
The next supermoon, the “Super Buck Moon” will occur in just under a month from now on July 13, 2022.