STRAWBERRY MOON HIT FULL PHASE AT 7:57 P.M. EDT ON JUNE 29
June’s Strawberry Moon, the first full moon of summer 2026, skimmed across the sky as the lowest-hanging full moon of the year.
The Moon reached full phase at 7:57 p.m. EDT on June 29, 2026, Space.com reported. Astronomy.com listed the same time.
It arrived after the June 21, 2026, summer solstice, and it looked bright and round for a night or two on either side of the exact moment, Space.com said.
“During the summer, the moon is at its lowest declination and closest to the horizon,” Paul Ricketts, interpretive specialist and director of the Willard Eccles Astronomy Observatory, said in a University of Utah article.
Why it hung so low
Space.com said the low path came from the Moon’s timing close to the solstice and its position opposite the Sun. The solstice marks the Sun’s highest point in the Northern Hemisphere’s daytime sky, so a full moon nearby takes the opposite, low route.
EarthSky said the path was among the lowest in decades in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere got one of its highest in decades.
Space.com advised looking east shortly after sunset to watch the Moon rise among the stars of Sagittarius. EarthSky said the June full moon points roughly toward the center of the Milky Way, near the Teapot asterism.
Moonrise times shifted by location, so viewers had to check their own city.
Ricketts said Salt Lake City viewers might have to wait if mountains blocked the view. Those same mountains could work in their favor, he said, because the Moon would first appear higher, through less atmosphere.
That matters for color. The name did not mean the Moon would turn pink, Space.com said, though it could look golden or orange near the horizon. Moonlight passing through more of Earth’s atmosphere there scatters shorter wavelengths, leaving a warmer hue.
“The moon’s reddish color is based on a few things—its altitude and what kind of dust or smoke resides in the atmosphere,” Ricketts said. “The lower it is, the redder it is.”
Space.com also noted the “moon illusion,” which can make the Moon look bigger near the horizon next to distant landscape features. It is a trick of perception, and the Moon’s size does not change.
Where the name came from
The “Strawberry Moon” name is linked to the strawberry harvest. Space.com described it as tied to a short harvesting season traditionally observed by Native American tribes.
June’s full moon also goes by Rose Moon, Hot Moon and Mead Moon, Space.com said.
A small one, too
The Moon was also a small one. Live Science reported it was the second-smallest full moon of 2026, at 252,442 miles from Earth. The Blue Moon before it sat just 63 miles farther out.
No special gear was needed to watch. Binoculars or a backyard telescope could bring out craters and mountains, Live Science said.
EarthSky has since described the June full moon as a micromoon, the last of three full micromoons in a row in 2026.
