We could all use a dose of fantastic sky-related events these days—and we won't have to wait long for a pretty cool one.
This Friday, folks in North America will be treated to a strawberry moon eclipse, June's full moon. Also called rose moon and hot moon by some, the terms given to the monthly happenings are the direct result of the traditional names that early settlers and Native Americans gave to the moons to keep track of planting and harvesting seasons.
Fun fact: those in Africa, Asia and Australia will get to witness a double astronomical event. In those parts of the world, 57% of the full moon will be covered by a penumbra (basically, Earth's shadow), effectively creating an eclipse.
Although us Americans will only enjoy part of the spectacular events, we'll actually have two chances to be part of it all. The full strawberry moon is set to happen at 19:12 Universal Time (that's 3:12pm ET and 12:12pm PT) but to see it in all of its glory, you'll want to look up during both moonset and moonrise: around 5:18am ET/5:37am PT and around 8:23pm ET/8:01pm PT.
You've got two chances, folks, so make good use of them. In case you do miss out (twice), you might want to set a reminder for July 5, when we expect the thunder moon eclipse to take over North American skies.
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