June full moon mirrors path of December sun
Photo by Java Cafe
Saturday, June 30, 2007.
The full moon comes at precisely 1:49 p.m. Universal Time today.
Full moon comes at the same instant for everyone worldwide, but the time on your clock will vary by time zone. For the Americas, the crest of the moon’s full phase comes this morning. In Australia and East Asia, it happens late tonight.
No matter where you live, you’ll see a full–looking moon lighting up the nighttime from dusk until dawn tonight. Because this is the closest full moon to the June solstice, the moon’s path across the night sky will resemble that of the December solstice sun.
In other words, in the northern hemisphere – where it’s summer now – the full moon travels low across the southern sky, just as the sun does in winter. In the southern hemisphere, where it’s winter now, the full moon will travel high across the sky, as the sun does in summer. When the sun rides low, the full moon rides high, and vice versa. This happens because the full moon is always opposite the sun in our sky.
In Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, this full moon is a blue moon: the second full moon in June. Because of differences in time zone, America’s blue moon came last month, in May.
So look for the moon tonight. No matter where you live, it’ll be round and full in our sky.
The June full moon shines in front of the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. The sun passes in front of this constellation from about December 18 – January 18.
Dates of the sun’s passage through the other constellations of the zodiac
Thank you for your great site, I googled to find the time of the full moon here on the east coast of Australia and what a pleasant surprise to find such an informative site. I love learning new information especialy about this being a blue moon. I will blog about this today
Suzie,
Glad you found the Earth & Sky site! For the east coast of Australia, the full blue moon will fall at 11:49 p.m. on Saturday, June 30. It’ll be way high up in your sky, like the summer noonday sun.
Thank you for corresponding with us, and please visit us again soon!
Bruce McClure
Hi Bruce, Thanks for the info, you’ll find a post on my blog and yes I have bookmarked this and checked out your site
Suzie,
I read your post, and have a better feel for your whereabouts on the east coast of Australia. I believe you live at about 28 degrees south latitude. For your part of the world, the instant of the June full blue moon came to pass at or close to local midnight, with the moon virtually at zenith (or straight overhead) in your sky.