Overview
- The June full moon, commonly called the Strawberry Moon, will be visible on the night of June 29–30 and reaches its peak at 01:57 local time on June 30.
- The name comes from Indigenous North American lunar naming tied to the strawberry harvest and does not refer to the moon’s color.
- For viewers in North Rhine-Westphalia, the best views come from elevated, dark sites such as the Eifel or Sauerland, and the Star Walk app predicts strong visibility shortly after sunset on June 29.
- The moon often appears larger and warmer in color when it sits near the horizon because its light passes through a thicker layer of air, but the intensity of orange or red tones depends on local weather and aerosol conditions and cannot be reliably predicted.
- May’s two full moons (a so-called Blue Moon) pushed June’s full moon to the month’s end, and longer lunar cycles such as the 18.6-year nodal cycle can change how low the moon rises as seen in 2025, though that cycle does not guarantee similar effects for 2026.