Stunning ‘pink moon’ will light up the night sky in UAE on Friday
Dubbed ‘Strawberry Moon’, June’s full moon will be a spectacle in the night skies as it will come with a partial lunar eclipse on June 5.
According to Daily Mail, Australians will be treated to a spectacular ‘Strawberry Moon’ lunar eclipse in the early hours of Saturday.
While, the celestial phenomena will be visible from the Arabian Peninsula, including UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. According to Al Arabiya website, the head of Jeddah Astronomy Society Majed Abu Zahra said that the eclipse will occur at the same time in all regions, when the moon starts entering the area of the earth’s shadow at 9.45pm UAE time (5:45pm GMT), reported KT.
Although called ‘Strawberry Moon’, Zahra explained that no change will be observed and the moon will look the same with the moment of complete full moon at 11.12pm UAE time (7:12pm GMT). However, the size of the moon will appear larger by 3.3 per cent, before the end of the eclipse at 1.04am UAE time (9:04pm GMT).
The June full moon is called ‘Strawberry Moon’ as it was a marked the beginning of strawberry picking season for Native American tribes.
The phenomenon, also known as a penumbral eclipse, occurs when the earth, sun and moon are all aligned. Due to this the earth blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon, casting a shadow over it.
Astrophysicist Dr David Gozzard, from the University of Western Australia International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research said the eclipse will last around three hours. “A strawberry moon is a name for a full moon in June and lunar eclipses like these always happen at the full moon,” he was quoted as saying in Daily Mail Australia.
Gozzard added, “The moon won’t disappear it’ll just go dimmer, so what we’ll really see is a dimmed full moon. It won’t be as bright as it normally is.”
While, the head of Jeddah Astronomy Society Majed Abu Zahra revealed that two weeks after the lunar eclipse of the moon, a solar eclipse will occur on the morning of June 21 in UAE skies among other Gulf countries.