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Rare celestial event: Tonight’s solstice coincides with strawberry moon

Hasn’t happened since 1967 and won’t happen again until 2062
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Skywatchers rejoice! Tonight’s summer solstice just happens to coincide with June’s full moon, a rare celestial event that happens just once in a generation, usually. Supplied

Skywatchers rejoice! Tonight’s summer solstice just happens to coincide with June’s full moon, a rare celestial event that happens just once in a generation, usually.

The last time the summer solstice and the full moon coincided was in 1967, the so-called Summer of Love. The event is expected to occur again until 2062.

The June full moon is referred to as a “strawberry moon” in North America, as it is believed the sweet summer fruit isn’t ready to pick until after this month’s full moon. In other words, don’t expect the moon to have a red or pinkish hue. 

However, because the full moon will be low on the horizon, atmospheric scattering means more yellow, orange or red light will be visible, giving the moon a golden colour.

The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year with an expected 17 hours of sunlight today.

If you want to be pedantic about it, the summer solstice isn't really the whole day. It marks the moment the Earth's rotation brings the northern axis closest to the sun, which happens at 6:34 p.m. ET today.

If you want to be even more pedantic, the moon was most full at 7:02 a.m. today, but it will still look pretty darn impressive tonight, even if it was more full last night.

Online observatory Slooh will be livestreaming the solstice this evening. If you’d rather watch it on a screen than poke your head outside to see if for yourself, you can watch the livestream below or visit Slooh.com.