You can see the “Strawberry Moon," Saturn and Jupiter in the evening sky in the coming days.

Starting June 16, the planet Jupiter can be seen very near the moon. It will be seen in the southeast sky in the evening. On the 17, the moon will be almost directly between the planet Jupiter and Saturn, and on June 18, the planet Saturn will be right above the moon in the southeast sky.

Brett Collar | TSM
Brett Collar | TSM
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This is also occurring in a time in which the planet Jupiter is very close (at least in the size of our solar system) to the earth. It’s also in opposition of the sun, meaning the earth is between the sun and the planet Jupiter, making it easier to spot in the night sky.

The planets Jupiter and Saturn will be the brightest looking stars in the night sky, except they won’t “twinkle” like actual stars.

This is all occurring during a time in which the full moon is referred to as the “Strawberry Moon." No, the moon won’t be red like a strawberry, it’ll be the regular old grey moon. But it begs the question, why do we call it the strawberry moon?

It’s called the strawberry moon because it’s the full moon in the month of June. The full moon in June is always called the strawberry moon. It goes back to a time before the Gregorian calendar, or the modern day calendar. Before this, cultures used the night sky to determine where they were in the course of the year. The full moons provided a pretty easy path. Each full moon was given a name, and since strawberries are mostly harvested in the month of June, it was given the name of the strawberry moon.

The strawberry moon officially becomes full on June 17 at 3:30 a.m., but it’ll be pretty full all weekend long.

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