PHOTO OF THE DAY: ‘STRAWBERRY’ IN THE SKY

A full moon rises in the southeastern sky around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night, an occasion marked by what is known as a “Strawberry Moon” that makes an appearance every 18 years. The name is not associated with the color of the moon (although it does show a hit of red), but rather with the strawberry harvest season. Here’s what space.com has to say about it.

Skywatchers were served the lowest full moon in almost two decades, thanks in part to a quirk of orbital mechanics known to astronomers as a “major lunar standstill”. This phenomenon occurs over a two-year period when the moon’s tilted orbit is at its greatest inclination relative to our planet’s celestial equator (which is essentially Earth’s normal equator projected out into space).

During a major lunar standstill, the moon can be seen rising and setting at more extreme positions on the horizon, while tracking a very high — or low — path through the night sky depending on the time of year. June’s Strawberry Moon occurs close to the southern solstice for those in the southern hemisphere, which means that it’s never particularly high in the sky to begin with. The major lunar standstill exacerbated this effect, making the June full moon the lowest full moon in almost two decades.