fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Night Sky: Solstice facts and fictions

by Bob Berman
June 23, 2021
in Columns
1
Night Sky: Solstice facts and fictions

(Flickr/Marlon Malabanan)

(Flickr/Marlon Malabanan)

The summer solstice on Sunday night is followed by a unique Full Moon on Thursday the 24th, and all of it affects us.

For weeks after the solstice our sunlight scarcely changes in intensity or duration. True, in a major turnaround from the past half year, days are now growing shorter. But only by a few seconds daily. We can keep counting on the 1 p.m. sun to hover within 20 degrees of the exact zenith, zapping us with its greatest strength of the year. We now burn and tan fastest and our shadows are at their minima.

The other realities are that the Sun now rises at its farthest-left spot on the horizon, and then sets at its farthest-right position. This makes sunlight stream into windows at angles seen at no other time of the year. This odd solar behavior was not lost on numerous classical civilizations, especially those that obsessively watched the sky like the Mayans and Aztecs, while it was largely ignored by cultures for whom science and the sky held no particular fascination, like the Hebrews and the Germanic tribes.

The Full Moon, which always stands opposite to the Sun, will therefore oppose this week’s super-high Sun by occupying its very lowest position of 2021. It’ll stand a measly 20 degrees high on Thursday and Friday nights, when it reaches its apex at around 1 a.m. This lowest Full Moon, easily blocked by hills, trees, or neighbors’ houses, occupies the lowest zodiac constellation — Sagittarius — which looks very much like a teapot. And since low Moons must shine through the thickest possible air, our atmosphere’s reddening effect often gives it an amber or honey color.

The Honey Moon! Since weddings were once traditionally held in June with its amber full Moons, could this indeed be the origin of “Honeymoon?” Scholars think not, but nonetheless see it for yourself if you’re awake Thursday night. You’ll observe the lowest Full Moon of 2021!

So much for reality. The fanciful or mythological part of the story starts with some in the media proclaiming this full Moon to be “the Strawberry Moon.” It’s tempting to think the low height of this Moon and its consequent ruddiness naturally gave rise to naming it after a red fruit. But, in fact, the June full Moon has had no official name whatsoever, and never did. Only the Algonquin tribe called it “Strawberry.” Some Colonial Americans called it that too, but most of them alluded to it as “the Rose Moon.” And many of them labeled it — (bugle call!) — the Honey Moon!!

If you have some Native-American ancestry, then you may be aware if you’re part Lakota Sioux that this was “The Moon of Making Fat.” To the Laguna this is “the Corn Moon,” to the Nex Perce it’s the “Salmon Fishing Time” Moon. The Cheyenne called it “The Moon When the Buffalo Bulls Are Rutting,” though good luck waiting up to hear your favorite TV meteorologist make that announcement. And there are lots more names, too. So whenever an almanac or TV announcer states, “Strawberry Moon” as if it’s an official term of science or even folklore, they’re displaying the “fake science” that should be the last thing anybody ought to be promulgating during these perilous times.

Sorry. It’s probably just the full Moon making me cranky.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

New Paltz residents weigh in on Henry W. Dubois Dr. bike/ped path design

Next Post

Letter: Saugerties must do something about loud trucks, motorcycles

Bob Berman

Bob Berman, Ulster Publishing’s Night Sky columnist since 1974, is the world’s most widely read astronomer. Since the mid-1990s, his celebrated "Strange Universe" feature has appeared monthly in Astronomy magazine, the largest circulation periodical on the subject. Berman is also the long-time astronomy editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. He was Discover magazine’s monthly columnist from 1989-2006. He has authored more than a thousand published mass-market articles and been a guest on such TV shows as Today and Late Night with David Letterman. Berman is director of two Ulster County observatories and the Storm King Observatory at Cornwall. He was adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Marymount college from 1995-2000.

Related Posts

Is the Moon the perfect shape?
Columns

Is the Moon the perfect shape?

February 2, 2023
America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork
Columns

America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork

January 27, 2023
Should we even be searching for another Earth?
Columns

Whether 200 billion or 800 billion, there are a lot of planets out there

January 20, 2023
Recalling the night a high school basketball team sought shelter from the storm
Columns

Recalling the night a high school basketball team sought shelter from the storm

January 7, 2023
Independent radio rebel Jeff Economy connects listeners to a wider world of sound
Art & Music

Independent radio rebel Jeff Economy connects listeners to a wider world of sound

January 6, 2023
For flora and fauna, winter is a season of survival
Columns

For flora and fauna, winter is a season of survival

January 5, 2023
Next Post
Letter: Saugerties must do something about loud trucks, motorcycles

Letter: Saugerties must do something about loud trucks, motorcycles

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • One man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.3k views
  • New Paltz police chief responds to newly released body cam footage of Tyre Nichols’ murder 1.4k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.1k views
  • Little Rabbit Wears Boutique gets “girly” in New Paltz 0.9k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 887 views
  • Three-story, mixed-use building proposed for Agway property in New Paltz 879 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
30°
Clear
7:07 am5:11 pm EST
Feels like: 25°F
Wind: 6mph S
Humidity: 43%
Pressure: 29.9"Hg
UV index: 0
FriSatSun
19/0°F
25/18°F
46/30°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing