Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has once again delighted fans of his work with a new, very spectacular image. This time he captured the rising of the Strawberry Moon.
The image was taken on the night of June 22-23. McCarthy used an SLR camera and a 1000-millimeter telephoto lens to take the photo. It is a composite image made up of many individual shots.
The Strawberry Moon has nothing to do with the color of the moon. It got its name from the Old Farmer’s Almanac published in the 1930s. Each full moon was given its own individual name. According to the generally accepted version, it comes from wild strawberries, which actively ripen in the forests of North America during this period. At the same time, scientists have no data that any of the Native American peoples actually called the June full moon by that name.
This past full moon was also noteworthy in that the Moon was at a record low above the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. This is due to its proximity to the summer solstice, during which the Sun is as high above the horizon as possible and the Moon is as low as possible.
The peculiarities of the lunar orbit also played a role. It is inclined by 5 degrees to the ecliptic plane — and it was in June 2024 that the Moon was at its lowest point. The next time such a “low moon” will happen again in 19 years.We previously told you about how Andrew McCarthy created a unique 368-megapixel portrait of the solar eclipse.
