Strawberry Moon 2021: Is Today’s Strawberry Moon A Supermoon?
For skywatchers the wait is finally over. The Strawberry Full Moon will appear after sunset can be seen for three days, till early Saturday morning. The Strawberry Moon does not look like a strawberry and neither is it pink in colour. Traditionally in North America and Europe, Full Moons have been given names linked to local cultures and customs.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, “This name (Strawberry Moon) has been used by Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples, among others, to mark the ripening of ‘June-bearing’ strawberries that are ready to be gathered.” The Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota are indigenous American tribes. The Strawberry Moon is often the last Full Moon of spring or the first one of the summer season.
According to the NASA, “The Full Moons in April and May were nearly tied as the closest Full Moons of the year. The Full Moon on May 26, was slightly closer to the Earth than the Full Moon on April 26 but only by a slim 0.04%.”
A supermoon is a New Moon or a Full Moon closely coinciding with perigee or the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit. Here’s a look at the distance of the three Full Moons from the Earth in April and May.
- April 27, 2021: 222,212 miles (357,615 km)
- May 26, 2021: 222,117 miles (357,462 km)
- June 24, 2021: 224,662 miles (361,558 km)
“A Full Moon or New Moon has to come within 90% of its closest approach to Earth to be dubbed a supermoon. In other words, any Full Moon or New Moon that comes to within 224,791 miles or 361,766 km (or less) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, can be called a supermoon.” The Strawberry Moon may have just missed being a supermoon by a whisker!
