Skywatchers across Ireland should get ready for a “strawberry full moon” – even though it is not strawberry coloured – from 11pm tonight, clear conditions permitting.

People should not be disappointed, however, when they learn that the phenomenon is more yellow than red.

“Strawberry moon” is a nickname said to originate from the Algonquin people, native to North America, because it indicated the start of the wild strawberry season, said Dr Oisin Creaner from the School of Physical Sciences at DCU.

“These days, strawberry farmers in Ireland can harvest their crop through much more of the year by planting different varieties that mature at different times of the year,” he said.

In this part of the world, the Celts called the June full moon the “mead moon”, while in Europe it was called the “rose moon” or the “honey moon”.

The latter is the origin of “honeymoon” as weddings are popular at this time of the year.

“As this strawberry moon will never get more than about eight degrees above the horizon in Ireland, it will experience strong atmospheric scattering and appear yellowish, or probably orange-ish, with the additional effects of the wildfire smoke,” said Ray Butler, assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Galway.

Atmospheric scattering is when white light is split into its colours, or parts, as it passes through the atmosphere and is then scattered around the sky.

“It’s just a coincidence that this year, the wildfire smoke will make the moon look redder than usual, somewhat like a strawberry,” said Prof Butler.

Smoke plumes carried across the Atlantic from North American wildfires have caused our recent sunsets to appear more salmon-pink

Anyone that was paying attention to the sky in recent nights will have noticed that the moon has appeared pink-ish in colour.

The reason has nothing to do with full moons, said John Flannery, vice-chairperson of the Irish Astronomical Society.

“Smoke plumes that have been carried across the Atlantic from North American wildfires have caused our recent sunsets to appear more salmon-pink with a soft diffuse light,” he said.

Tonight’s full moon should be tinged a deep tangerine hue as it rises, Mr Flannery said, due both to the same smoggy air and the moon’s low altitude, then as its light passes through a thicker blanket of the atmosphere.

“The underlying colour of the moon is a fairly neutral grey, due to sunlight reflecting from its rocky surface,” Prof Butler said.

“What we see then depends on what’s interposed between us and the moon.

“High in the night sky, it’s still grey. We often describe it as white or poetically “silver” when it’s bright, in contrast to the darkness of the sky.

“Low in the night sky, the scattering effects I described make the moon appear more yellowish-white or even orange.”

During a total lunar eclipse, he said, the only light reaching the moon is refracted through the skin of Earth’s atmosphere, so it appears deep red.

Tonight’s full moon will rise in the south-east just after 11pm. The precise time will vary depending on where the observer is in Ireland, with the moon setting towards the southwest at 5am tomorrow morning.

Published in the Irish Independent 11th June ’25