The strawberry moon is a supermoon this year — here’s what that actually means

Okay, so I am a complete sucker for anything that makes me feel like the universe is doing something on purpose. Eclipses, meteor showers, a weirdly pink sunset — I’m outside with my neck craned back like a golden retriever who heard a weird noise.

The strawberry moon is one of those things. It sounds made up and precious, and yet it’s genuinely one of the better sky events of the year. And when it lands as a supermoon? That’s not just a NASA press release thing — you can actually see the difference.

Here’s everything worth knowing about it, without the astrology-app fluff.

What exactly is the strawberry moon?

The strawberry moon is simply the name for June’s full moon — and it has nothing to do with the moon turning red or pink. The name comes from the Algonquin tribes of northeastern North America, who used it as a seasonal marker for when wild strawberries were ripening and ready to harvest. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has tracked this naming tradition back centuries, and it’s one of the more poetic ones in the calendar.

Other cultures have their own names for it — the Rose Moon, the Hot Moon, the Mead Moon. All pointing to the same thing: early summer is here, and something is ready.

Why does calling it a supermoon actually matter?

A supermoon happens when a full moon coincides with the moon being at or near its perigee — the closest point in its elliptical orbit around Earth. The moon’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle, so the distance between us and it varies by about 30,000 miles depending on where it is in that oval path.

When it’s close and full at the same time, it looks noticeably bigger and significantly brighter. NASA puts the difference at up to 14% larger and 30% brighter compared to a full moon at apogee (its farthest point). That’s not a subtle change — that’s a moon that actually stops you in your tracks when it rises over a treeline.

Is the color thing real or just Instagram doing its thing?

The orange-red glow people associate with big full moons is real — but it’s not because of the supermoon specifically. It’s atmospheric. When the moon sits low on the horizon right after moonrise, its light travels through more of Earth’s atmosphere to reach your eyes, and shorter blue wavelengths scatter away. What’s left skews warm — orange, amber, sometimes a deep red.

So if you want the dramatic color, catch it right at moonrise. Check a moon-rise calculator for your zip code and be outside about ten minutes before. The higher it climbs, the whiter it gets.

When does the strawberry supermoon happen?

Full moon dates shift year to year, so “the strawberry moon” lands on a slightly different date each June. In 2025, the full strawberry moon peaks on June 11. If it’s also classified as a supermoon that year, your window is tight — full moons are technically “full” for just a moment, though they look full to the naked eye for a couple of nights on either side.

The night of and the night after peak fullness are both worth watching.

How do you actually watch it without making it weird?

You don’t need a telescope. You don’t need an app that tracks your moon sign. You need to go outside, preferably somewhere with a low horizon — a field, a beach, a rooftop, a parking garage you’re not supposed to be on. The less light pollution, the better, but a supermoon is bright enough to be impressive even from a suburban backyard.

Let your eyes adjust. Give it fifteen minutes before you decide it’s not impressive. Moonrise is slower than you think and more worth the wait than you’d expect.

If you want to photograph it, the classic mistake is pointing your phone at a high moon and wondering why it looks like a tiny white dot. Shoot it low on the horizon with something in the foreground — a building, a tree, a person — and the scale reads right.

Does the supermoon actually affect anything down here?

The short answer: the tides, yes. Everything else, probably not in any way you’d measure. A supermoon produces higher-than-usual tidal swings — called perigean spring tides — because the moon’s gravitational pull is slightly stronger when it’s closer. Coastal areas sometimes see noticeable flooding during these events, especially if storm conditions line up.

The stuff about supermoons causing earthquakes or making people act strange? USGS is pretty clear that there’s no reliable evidence linking lunar cycles to seismic activity. And as for human behavior — I don’t know, I’ve met enough strange people on perfectly ordinary Tuesdays that I can’t credit the moon.

What’s the best full moon name in the calendar, honestly?

This is purely subjective and I will die on this particular hill — the strawberry moon is top three. The cold moon in December is haunting in a good way. The harvest moon in September does something atmospheric that no other full moon quite pulls off. But strawberry moon has the best name, full stop. It sounds warm. It sounds like something is about to be exactly ripe.

The beaver moon in November, though. Poor thing never stood a chance.

You don’t have to be a moon person to appreciate a supermoon strawberry moon. You just have to look up at the right time on the right night, and let it be a little bit bigger than you expected.

That’s kind of enough sometimes.

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