The clouds and a field of tall corn prevented me from getting a photo of the first supermoon of the month, the Full Sturgeon Moon, when it was rising tonight. The clouds also covered part of this moon photo taken years ago. August’s full moon is traditionally called the Sturgeon Moon because the giant sturgeon of the Great Lakes traditionally caught during this month. Other names for the August full moon are Black Cherries Moon, Flying Up Moon, Harvest Moon, Mountain Shadows Moon, Ricing Moon and Corn Moon.
Tonight’s full moon appeared bigger than normal and would have appeared brighter too except it was playing hide and seek with the clouds when I was watching it. Supermoons occur on the average once in fourteen months when its orbit hits perigee at the same time, but this full moon is the closest to the earth since January 26, 1948 and the next time it will be closer is on November 25, 2034.
When one thinks of the first day of summer, usually a warm sunny day comes to mind and today was a nice sunny day. But this summer solstice, the full moon is taking some of the ‘light’. This month’s full moon lands on the solstice, which most reports say that the last time this had happened was in 1948 and won’t happen again until 2062.
Since the sun is at its highest today, the moon is opposite the sun, so it is rather low on the horizon tonight which causes it to be in the thicker air causing the moon to take on an amber color and therefore is often called Honey Moon. And an amber color was picked up when I set the exposure for the moon but there was some pink clouds under it to be the Strawberry Moon.
The Native American tribes called June’s full moon the Strawberry Moon because it marked the time of year they should gather ripening fruit. I tried picking some wild strawberries while waiting for the moon to rise but the ones I saw a few days ago which weren’t quite ripe were missing so the critters apparently were gathering the berries ahead of me. Other names for the June full moon is Rose Moon and Hot Moon.
