A ‘STRAWBERRY MOON’ is due to appear tonight which only happens once every 70 years on average.
Astronomy Ireland is urging everyone in the country to go out and see the ‘Strawberry’ moon hanging low in the south at 11:34pm – which is the exact instance of the summer solstice.
Editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine David Moore said, “We only get a full moon happening on solstice day every 70 years and it was 1967 [when] this last happened!”
The June Full Moon is known as the ‘Strawberry Moon’ as it coincides with fruit coming into season and strawberries bloom in June.
The French call this moon la lune rose, which translates into English as “the rose moon.”
Moore added, “The full moon in summer is always impressive as it always lies very close to the horizon, right in people’s line of sight, which makes it ‘look’ bigger due to an effect called ‘The Moon Illusion’.
Either way it’s going to be an amazing sight to the naked eye that all 4.6 million people in the country should watch as Ireland is fairly unique in having the moon this low.
He added that the low full moon often looks a reddish colour, depending on atmospheric conditions on the night.
Photos are being sought also for Astronomy Ireland magazine, www.astronomy.ie, which will do a huge pictorial feature on this extremely rare sight.
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