The summer solstice coincided with a strawberry moon on Monday night for the first time in almost 50 years, giving skywatchers a rare treat.
Summer began at 6:34 p.m. on the East Coast, when the sun reached it's highest point, marking the year's longest day,
The Associated Press noted.
The full moon falls on the same day as the summer solstice for the first time since 1967. June's full moon is known as a strawberry moon because Native American tribes considered it a signal of when fruit were ripe,
AccuWeather noted. It is also called the rose moon, the hot moon, or the honey moon. The moon reached its full state at 7:02 a.m. Eastern on Monday.
The full moon and summer solstice won't coincide again until June 21, 2062.
The rare occurrence will make the moon appear to have a yellow color.
"By landing exactly on the solstice, this full moon doesn’t just rise as the Sun sets but is opposite the Sun in all other ways too," according to
Farmer's Almanac. "The sun gets super high so this moon must be super-low. Even at its loftiest at 1 a.m., it’s downright wimpy-low. This forces its light through thicker air, which also tends to be humid this time of year, and the combination typically makes it amber colored."
Farmer's Almanac co-hosted a live stream of the full moon event with
online observatory Slooh.
Meanwhile, about 25,000 people were expected to celebrate the solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England,
The Telegraph reported.
“Stonehenge is an ancient prehistoric site which has been a place of worship and celebration at the time of the Summer Solstice for thousands of years,” a spokesman for English Heritage told the U.K. newspaper.
Twitter users awaited the rare occasion with anticipation.