June’s full moon will rise in the southeastern sky Monday evening just after sunset, then reach full phase at 7:56 p.m. on June 29. Skywatchers will be able to see the Moon appear full throughout the night, even if the best view comes soon after it clears the horizon.
The June full moon is widely known as the Strawberry Moon, a name tied to Native American traditions and later popularized by the Old Farmers Almanac. For Algonquian-speaking peoples in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, late June marked the brief season when wild strawberries ripened, and European settlers later adopted many seasonal moon names over time.
That name can create the wrong expectation. The Moon is called the Strawberry Moon, but it is not a promise of a pink or red Moon overhead. When it first rises, it can look yellow, orange or subtly pinkish because of Earth’s atmosphere, which scatters the light before it reaches the eye. The effect is strongest near the horizon, where the Moon has more air to shine through.
There is also a reason this full moon hangs so low across the sky. The full Moon always appears opposite the Sun, and near last week’s June solstice it traces one of its lowest paths of the year across the nighttime sky. That lower track is why this moonrise comes in close to sunset and why the view can feel unusually close to the horizon, much like the low-slung summer sky seen in earlier moonwatching reports.
The June moon names vary across Indigenous traditions. The Dakota and Lakota used similar names tied to ripening berries. The Cherokee called June’s full moon the Green Corn Moon. The Western Abenaki referred to it as the Hoer Moon, the Haida called it the Berries Ripen Moon, and the Cree knew it as the Egg Laying Moon or Hatching Moon.
For readers looking ahead, the next full Buck moon arrives on July 29. But this week’s event belongs to June: a Full Moon that rises after sunset, reaches fullness at 7:56 p.m., and carries a name rooted in seasonal life rather than color in the sky.
