Aussie stargazers, this one’s for you.
Marking the beginning of the eclipse season, a Strawberry Moon is set to grace the skies in the early hours of Saturday morning here in Australia.
While ‘Strawberry Moon‘ simply refers to June’s full Moon (sometimes called a ‘Hot Moon’ or the ‘Rose Moon’), the Strawberry Moon Eclipse refers to the fact that the sun, Earth and moon are all perfectly aligned. The Earth stops some of the Sun’s light from reaching the Moon, and the Moon is covered in the Earth’s shadow which creates a dark shading on the moon’s surface – also known as a penumbra.
57% of the moon will be covered by Earth’s penumbra and this type of eclipse is subtle and can be easily missed by people that take only a quick glance up at the moon during the event.
Bad news is you’ll have to be either a morning person or a serious night owl to witness the eclipse on Saturday morning. The full moon will begin darkening with the Earth’s shadow at 3.45am, reaching its peak, with almost two-thirds of the moon’s face eclipsed, at 5.24am.
The total duration of the eclipse is three hours and 18 minutes.
If this one’s just that little bit too early, the next two lunar eclipses (also penumbral) of 2020 will be on July 4-5 and November 29-30.
Fun fact: It’s referred to as a ‘Strawberry Moon’ for the fruit’s harvest season which takes place during this time in North America. The tradition of naming the full Moon according to its season comes from Native American tribes, with other names including the Wolf Moon, the Harvest Moon and the Blood Moon.
