A Rare Strawberry Moon Will Be Visible In Texas This Week

For the first time since 1985, Texas will see a strawberry moon in the sky this week on Friday night.

Although the assumption for the name is due to the color of the moon, the term 'strawberry' actually refers to the optimal harvest of strawberry fields during this time of year.

The Texas Standard spoke with Amy Ray, an astronomer in west Texas, who stated that the moon will not actually be red or strawberry-colored at all. It'll be closer to gold or orange.

Space facts!

The reason the moon will look a different color this week is because during the summer solstice on June 20th, the moon is at its lowest point relative to Earth.

So, the blue light that we tiny humans see from the moon on a normal day will be scattered more throughout our atmosphere.

How to observe the strawberry moon

The best chance you have to see this rare astronomical event is to avoid the city and any large structures.

The moon is set to rise around 9 pm in Texas on Friday, so if you can set aside some time in the evening to head to a more rural area, that's your best bet to see the horizon where the setting will occur from the east.

The reason why this uniquely-colored moon differs than others we've seen is because this strawberry moon will retain its coloring all night rather than looking red for a few hours before returning to the silvery-blue that we all know and love.