Updated

Updated · NBC Chicago · Jun 28

June Strawberry Micromoon Rises Over Chicago on June 29 as 2026’s Final Micromoon

Updated

Updated · NBC Chicago · Jun 28

June Strawberry Micromoon Rises Over Chicago on June 29 as 2026’s Final Micromoon

Q: If clouds block the moon, what other eclipses and meteor showers can you see in the UK this summer?

If cloud spoils the Strawberry Moon, the standout UK sky events later this summer are the Perseid meteor shower and two eclipses in August. The best meteor display is the Perseids, active from mid-July to early September and peaking on the night of 12-13 August. From the UK, under dark skies, observers can typically see around 50 to 100 meteors an hour. This year’s peak is especially favourable because it coincides with a new Moon, so moonlight will not wash out the fainter meteors. The best viewing is after midnight and before dawn, away from streetlights. The UK will also get a major partial solar eclipse on 12 August 2026. Around 90% of the Sun will be covered at maximum from much of the UK, making it one of the most significant solar eclipses visible here in decades. In London, it is expected to begin at about 6.17pm BST and peak around 7.13pm; timings vary slightly by location. Safe viewing is essential: only certified eclipse glasses or indirect methods such as pinhole projection should be used. A partial lunar eclipse follows on 28 August, the same date as the Sturgeon Moon. That event will be visible only if skies are clear, since it depends on seeing the Moon itself. There are also smaller summer showers, including the June Bootids and the Delta Aquariids, but from the UK they are generally less reliable or less impressive than the Perseids.

Q: Why will 2026's smallest full moon, the Strawberry 'micromoon', still appear unusually large in the sky this week?

It will look unusually large because of where it sits in the sky, not because it is actually big. The 2026 Strawberry Moon is a micromoon, meaning it occurs near apogee, the Moon’s farthest point from Earth, so it will in fact be the year’s smallest-looking full Moon and slightly dimmer than average. But in late June, the full Moon in the Northern Hemisphere follows its lowest path of the year, hanging close to the horizon. That is where the well-known “Moon illusion” is strongest: when the Moon is seen beside trees, buildings or distant landscape features, the brain interprets it as larger than it really is. The effect is visual, not astronomical. Its low position can also make it look more dramatic in color. As moonlight passes through more of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon, shorter blue wavelengths are scattered out, leaving warmer yellow, orange or reddish tones. That does not make the Moon physically larger, but it can make it seem more striking and oversized. So the apparent contradiction is simple: this week’s Strawberry Moon is genuinely a micromoon because it is farther away, yet it may still appear huge to observers because June’s full Moon stays very low in the sky and triggers the horizon-based Moon illusion.

3 articles · Updated · NBC Chicago · Jun 28

7 p.m. Central on Monday marks June’s full moon, with Chicago-area viewers best placed to see it just after sunset.
NASA says this full moon is a micromoon because it reaches full phase near apogee—the farthest point in the moon’s orbit from Earth—so it appears slightly smaller than a supermoon.
“Strawberry moon” refers to June’s traditional strawberry harvest in North America, not to a red moon color; other cultures also call it the “hot moon.”
2026’s final micromoon arrives after the year’s first supermoon, with NASA saying the next two supermoons are still ahead, including one on Nov. 24.