The UAE is on the verge of the final chapter of the 2021 supermoon trilogy with the strawberry moon being visible tonight.
The supermoon will appear tonight at 7:04 pm, June 24. This is the best time to see it and people should make sure they have the high ground or find an unobstructed area to have a clear view.
Like the other supermoons that appeared this year, the name doesn’t mean that it will look like an actual strawberry or even strawberry-coloured in appearance.
According to CEO of the Dubai Astronomy Group Hasan Al Hariri and Director of Al Thuraya Astronmy Centre Hasan Al Hariri:
“The strawberry moon gets its sweet name from the Algonquin tribes of North America who related its appearance to the start of the strawberry-picking season.” Going on ot state that “It won’t appear red or pink, it will look large and gold as it appears above the horizon.”
Why couldn’t it have been called the Golden Harvest moon instead for example? It would still serve as a reminder of the time to harvest strawberries but not get our hopes up of seeing a uniquely coloured moon.
Like the earlier supermoons, this one can be up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than an average full moon when it is farthest away from Earth. In order to be classed as a supermoon “Any full moon or new moon that comes within 224,791 miles or 361,766km (or less) of Earth, as measured from the centres of the Moon and Earth, can be called a supermoon.
That may perhaps be the reason behind multiple sightings of supermoons in a single year” explains Sarath Raj N.S, Project Director of Amity Dubai Satellite Ground Station and Porgramme Leader for Aerospace Engineering at Amity University Dubai. Tomorrow’s supermoon will pass within just 360,00 km of Earth.
If you want the best views, you can attend the paid event at the Al Thuraya Astronomy Centre and look at the supermoon through powerful telescopes. You can also watch the supermoon via livestream on the Virtual Telescope Project, Perth Observatory, Starry Nights, Sanora Astronomical Society and Slooh pages.
Meanwhile, this song has been stuck in my head since I knew the moon was approaching.
