On Friday, June 5, a full moon, known as the Strawberry Moon, will appear in much of the Western Hemisphere. On the opposite side of the world in the Eastern hemisphere, the Strawberry Moon will have a penumbral lunar eclipse, where the moon will be dark and silver.
NASA confirmed that the Moon will showcase its beauty from 1:45 p.m. EDT (17:45 UTC), 3:12 p.m. EDT (19:12 UTC) at the eclipse's maximum, up until 5:04 p.m. EDT (21:04 UTC). Witnessing the Moon in the afternoon means that the Sun and Moon are aligned on opposite sides of the Earth.
Algonquin tribes knew this full moon meant that it is time to gather ripening strawberries, making the month's name universal to every tribe. Historically, ancient tribes and civilizations named months after traits that were associated with shifting seasons. Today, most of those ancient moon names are full moon names instead, as colonial Americans adopted several Native American names in their modern calendar.
In Europe it is known as the Rose Moon, the season when roses bloom or Hot Moon, marking the beginning of a hot summer. Another is Mead moon, an Anglo-Saxon name, as it was the time for mowing meads (or meadows).
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the moon navigates through the outer part of Earth's penumbra or outer shadow. This particular type of lunar eclipse is a result of imperfect alignment.
The Earth only partially blocks the Sun's light from being reflected on the entire surface of the moon. With the penumbra being lighter than that dark core of Earth's shadow, the umbra, a penumbral eclipse is often mistaken for a normal full moon.
We don't always witness a lunar eclipse every time there's a full moon because of the moon's orbital path inclining at 5 degrees. A lunar eclipse takes place when it is near a lunar node or the points where two orbital planes meet.
Eclipses of the moon can be observed across Earth's entire night side, unlike solar eclipses which can only be seen along a narrow path from a small portion of the planet. However, it remains 'impossible to observe the start and end of a penumbral lunar eclipse, even with telescopes.'
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Solar Eclipse to Follow
On June 21, the annular phase of a solar eclipse will be completely visible in a few parts of Africa, Pakistan, India, and Asia while the rest of the Eastern Hemisphere will only witness a partial eclipse.
Being one of three types of solar eclipses, the annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon covers the center of the Sun, showing a 'ring of fire' or the visible out edge of the star.
Annular comes from the word 'annulus,' which is Latin for a ring. 'These eclipses are named for their darkest, or maximum, point even if it only lasts less than a second,' as defined by timeanddate.com.
Solar eclipses are rare and only take place around New Moon, an 'invisible' phase defined by Sun, Moon, and Earth alignment, following right after the Strawberry Moon's appearance this week.
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