If you miss out on today and tomorrow’s spectacular in the sky, you will have to wait another 18 years to experience it.

Lowvelder reports that tomorrow at 09:43, the strawberry moon will be the lowest in the sky in 19 years, and according to Project Nightfall’s Facebook page, it will only be this low again in 2043.

This means that tonight, the moon will be nearly full and will look spectacular as it rises. In the early morning hours of tomorrow, it will still be very full as it sets.

When will it be visible?

According to timeanddate.com’s moonrise and moonset times, these are the best estimates for some of South Africa’s cities and a town in KZN:

Pretoria
Moonrise: Approximately 16:29 SAST today (Look to the east after sunset for a beautiful view of the rising, nearly full moon.)
Moonset: Approximately 06:58 SAST tomorrow (Look to the west before sunrise for the setting, still very full moon.)

Durban
Moonrise: Approximately 16:09 SAST today (Look to the east after sunset for a beautiful view of the rising, nearly full moon.)
Moonset: Approximately 06:58 SAST tomorrow (Look to the west before sunrise for the setting, still very full moon.)

Mbombela
Moonrise: Approximately 16:21 SAST today (Look to the east after sunset for a beautiful view of the rising, nearly full moon.)
Moonset: Approximately 06:44 SAST tomorrow (Look to the west before sunrise for the setting, still very full moon.)

Richards Bay
Moonrise: Approximately 16:08 SAST today (Look to the east after sunset for a beautiful view of the rising, nearly full moon.)
Moonset: Approximately 06:51 SAST tomorrow (Look to the west before sunrise for the setting, still very full moon.)

To get a more specific time for your area if it is not listed above, click here and update the location.

What is a strawberry moon?

The full strawberry moon will produce a stunning show as the fully lit disk of Earth’s natural satellite rides low over the south-eastern horizon.

According to the website space.com, a full moon occurs every month when the moon is positioned opposite the sun in Earth’s sky.

“It allows the lunar disk to be fully lit from our perspective. June’s full moon is commonly referred to as the strawberry moon in the United States, but the nickname isn’t a reference to its colour, though there’s a decent chance it will take on a yellow-orange hue when near the horizon due to the atmosphere’s habit of scattering certain wavelengths of light. Rather, the evocative name is thought to have been coined by the Native American Algonquian tribes in reference to the short strawberry harvesting season that falls around this time of year, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Other cultures have dubbed the event the blooming moon, green corn moon, birth moon and hatching moon, to name a few,” according to space.com.