Look up to the skies in the early hours of Wednesday 11 June and, provided clear skies prevail, you could be in for quite the lunar spectacular.
For, while many Brits might be firmly in the summer mood, the official last full moon of spring is upon us – and it’s set to set the skies alight with deep red hues.
June 2025’s so-called ‘strawberry moon’ is set to be the lowest full moon we’ve seen since 2006, illuminating the northern hemisphere’s night skies. The event occurs every 18.6 years, meaning the next chance to see the spectacle is in 2043, making it a bucket list event for lucky philoselenes.
While the celestial event does usher in the strawberry harvest (and strawberry devouring on the famed Wimbledon courts), the terms can actually be traced back to Indigenous Americans, who took the low-hanging, colourful moon as a signal to pick their cherished fruit.
Despite the name, there’s never a guarantee the moon will be a resplendent red. However, it does usually appear to have a reddish colouring when rising and setting. This is because the unusually low position of the moon means it reflects light back to Earth through the thicker layer of our atmosphere.
June’s strawberry moon comes amidst a bumper year for exciting celestial events. Brits were treated to an astronomical spectacle on Saturday 29 March, courtesy of a partial solar eclipse that saw around 50 per cent of the sun’s surface covered in Scotland and around 30 per cent further south.
Still to come is a total lunar eclipse on Sunday 7 September, when the moon’s visible side will pass entirely through the Earth's umbral shadow, causing a temporary blackout. Saturn is set to put on quite the show exactly two weeks later, as its position directly opposite the sun means the gas giant will look exceptionally bright.