Derekscope

This year’s Full Strawberry Moon is the lowest full moon in UK skies since 2006.

Why the Strawberry Moon is so special this year?
The Strawberry Full Moon will be very low in the southern sky ~ making it the lowest Moon in its 18.6-year lunar cycle, and it will appear bigger than it because it is near the horizon.

The last time the full Moon sat this low in the sky was nearly 19 years ago, in 2006 (see my photo above), won’t happen again until 2043.

The Moon can indeed help in identifying the constellation Libra (The Scales) – its brilliance makes it easier to locate Libra, especially in the early evening, but the moonlight also makes it harder to see the faint constellation’s stars.

Virgo is a prominent constellation during this summer month in June and is located in the southern sky – tonight the Moon forms triangle with Spica and Porrima making it easier to identify Virgo in the night sky.

Challenging to spot two planets – Saturn & Neptune in the early morning – good opportunity for photography.

Moon near Mars and Regulus in the west as twilight ends.

Today Venus will reach its greatest eastern elongation – this means it will be at its farthest point from the Sun in the morning sky, making it the easiest time to observe Venus in the eastern sky before dawn this month, June.

Conjunction of the Moon and Mars – the pair will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.

A superior conjunction occurs when Mercury is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, making it difficult to observe as it appears behind the Sun.

Through the telescope view, the Moon will appear above Jupiter in the early afternoon, around 1pm (BST) in the daylight ~ the Moon will be a 4% illuminated waxing crescent, and Jupiter will be 5 degrees below it.

Or following the bright twilight evening at 9pm (BST), The Moon and Jupiter will share the same right ascension (RA).

See below my archived photo of Moon & Jupiter in broad daylight.