New Delhi, June 4: June’s first full moon is called the ‘strawberry moon’ by the early Native Americans because it marks the harvest of strawberries. It also depicts the occurrence of penumbral (Earth’s outer shadow is called penumbra) lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon.
Penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon are not perfectly aligned and the moon moves through the fainter outer shadow of Earth. Thus, Earth blocks some sunlight from directly falling on the Moon. So a very faint change in the brightness of the moon will be noticed.
In India, it will be visible from 11:15 pm on June 5 to 2:34 am on June 6. The maximum eclipse phase is at 12:54 am on June 6. This is the second of the four penumbral lunar eclipse of this year.