Strawberry Moon Over Longs Peak
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Strawberry Moon Over Longs Peak
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture/photo Illustration
Description
The full moon in June is called the "Strawberry Moon". Just like the July full moon is the "Buck Moon" and the April full moon is the "Flower Moon", each month has a unique name for the "full" lunar phase. You can get your head all fuzzy in a hurry if you pay much attention to the lunar phases and motions.
For example: what is the difference between a synodic month and a sideral lunar month and which is longer? Feel you head fuzzing up yet?
Which is longer, a lunar Synodic month or a lunar Sidereal month? Who cares, you say? The short answer is that a lunar Synodic month is longer - the sidebar is that it took the human population between 2,000 and 3,000 years to figure this out.
To understand the above, one must first realize that anything with the word 'Sidereal' in it, astronomically speaking, refers to aligning with the stars. By the same criteria, anything with the word 'Synodic' in it refers to a coming together to two things. A church synod, for example refers to the 'coming together' of the congregation members and the church. A lunar 'Sidereal' month refers to the time it takes the Earth's Moon to make a complete 360 degree orbit around the Earth and again align with the stars. This happens once every 27.3 days.
However, during the 27.3 days that it takes the Moon to circle the Earth with respect to the stars, the Earth hasn't been sitting still. It has moved in its orbit around the Sun by that same amount. So what, you say? Answer, this additional time causes the lunar Synodic month to be 29.5 days long. It is defined at the time required for the moon to pass through a complete cycle of phases, new moon back to new moon.
The difference between a Synodic month and a Sidereal month is the difference between 29.5 and 27.3 or about 2.2 days. This is the extra required time needed for the Earth to move in its orbit (with the Moon circling) to complete a direct alignment between the Earth, Moon and Sun - new Moon and back to new Moon again. The 'New' phase only happens when the Earth, Moon and Sun are in a straight line with the Moon between the Earth and the Sun. When this happens, it is not visible from Earth, unless the Moon happens to be at perigee - but that's another story...
Image of the full moon above Longs Peak in northern Colorado copyright Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
June 3rd, 2015
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Comments (7)
Gary Richards
Strawberry moon is only one of many names for the June moon. For instance, the Arapaho of the Great Plains it meant moon of the ponies long hair! :) Your capture of the strawberry moon is very very nice!
Jon Burch Photography replied:
Thanks Gary! I've found many references to the lunar names that vary from tribe to tribe also.