The Strawberry Full Moon will decorate the Jordanian sky next Saturday

Dr.. Ammar Al-Sakji
President of the Jordanian Astronomical Society

In a rare astronomical phenomenon, the June Moon, or the Strawberry Moon, will decorate the skies of Jordan and the Arab region on Saturday morning and evening, as the pink Strawberry Moon will be complete at 4:10 AM on Saturday, June 22, 2024, Jordan time, and the sunset of this Full Moon will continue until 5:21 AM on Saturday morning. On the flat horizon in the direction of the west and at an angle of 236 degrees, as well as its sunrise at 8:35 pm on Saturday in the direction of the east and at an angle of 121 degrees with the horizon, where it appears soon with the horizon in its beautiful orange color.

It is facing the sun, so it rises at sunset in the east, and sets toward the west at approximately sunrise. The rarity of this phenomenon is that the Strawberry Full Moon is close in time to the summer solstice, and this Full Moon is opposite the Sun in its rising and setting, as it rises at sunset, and sets when the Sun rises, and also when the Sun is at its lowest level, the Full Moon is at its highest. Its levels.

Because this full moon is very low in its orbit, it will appear larger than ever before, and this is called the “moon illusion,” especially when it sets in the morning or rises in the evening. Do not miss the opportunity to view this low and large moon that resembles an orange sun for a few precious hours. This is an invitation to photography enthusiasts to take iconic pictures of this full moon in areas of Jordan, especially tourist and archaeological areas, cities, between buildings, above minarets, and other landmarks.

The Strawberry Moon or Mead Moon coincided with the summer solstice, which is a rare astronomical phenomenon that occurs approximately every 20 years, as the moment of the summer solstice occurs on Thursday, June 20 at 11:50 PM according to Jordanian time.
This is what Wiccan and Anglo-Saxon medieval traditions refer to the full moon closest to the summer solstice as the Mid Moon.
The June full moon is called the Strawberry Full Moon. While the strawberries are certainly reddish-pink in color and are round in shape, the origin of the name “Strawberry Full Moon” has nothing to do with the moon’s color or appearance, despite dramatic images in which the moon usually appears red or orange. When it is close to the horizon, the reason is related to atmospheric physics, because sunlight passes through the densest layers of the atmosphere.

The name “Strawberry Moon” was used by the Algonquian Native American tribes living in the northeastern United States, as well as the Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples, to refer to the ripeness of “June-bearing” strawberries that are ready to be picked in their areas. The Strawberry Moon has several names, including: The average full moon, the pink full moon, the birth full moon, or the hot full moon, in addition to some European names such as the mead full moon and the honey moon, because the month of June was a month of marriage, and the month of June was named after the Roman goddess of marriage, Juno. After marriage comes the “honeymoon.” Which may be related to this alternative name for the moon!

It is worth noting that the Strawberry Full Moon, at the moment of its completion, is in the sign of Sagittarius, or the Archer. This is a star sign or constellation located on the apparent path of the sun, and it appears in the northern hemisphere in the summer. The ancient Babylonians imagined it in the form of an archer shooting with a bow towards the star Antares ( Antares).