Pink Supermoon Rises!

Even though we’re all staying home to stay safe because of the coronavirus pandemic we can look forward to seeing the pink supermoon rising tonight. It made its appearance last night but tonight and tomorrow night it should appear bigger and brighter, definitely worth viewing.

In the year 2020 there will be three full moon supermoons in March, April and May. After those three there will be three new moon supermoons on 17 September, 16 October and 15 November.

Every month of the year there is a full moon which is given a different name.

Regardless of its name April's full moon will not actually appear pink. The moon never truly changes its colour and whatever shift of hue is visible at night is caused by atmospheric effects.

Why called the Pink Moon?

April's full moon is called the pink moon heralding the appearance of the 'moss pink' or wild ground phlox - one of the first spring wild flowers which turn the meadows pink. Spiritually the pink moon always signifies renewal and rebirth.

Other names for April’s full moon include the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon and the Fish Moon.

The pink moon will be a supermoon, which means it appears larger than average. The full moon occurs when the satellite is exactly on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun.

What is a supermoon?

A supermoon is when you look up at the night sky and the full moon looks so close you feel as if you could almost touch it, although sometimes the difference is hard to spot with the naked eye.

This is called a moon illusion as the full moon appears much larger when it rises behind a distant object on the horizon.

When the moon is closest to the earth a supermoon occurs. A supermoon will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual. A supermoon looks especially large when rising and setting.

The moon will be 30,000 miles closer than usual. It sounds a lot, but the average distance between the earth and moon is 238,900 miles, so it’s not that huge a difference.

If you go outside on the night of a full supermoon you should actually notice that it is exceptionally bright.

According to the US space agency the term supermoon was first coined back in 1979 and is now quite commonly used.

Traditional Full Moon Names 2020

January 10 - Wolf Moon
February 9 - Snow Moon
March 9 - Worm Moon
April 7 - Pink Moon
May 7 - Flower Moon
June 5 - Strawberry Moon
July 5 - Buck Moon
August 3 - Sturgeon Moon
September 2 - Corn Moon
October 1 - Harvest Moon
October 31 - Blue Moon
November 30 - Beaver Moon
December 29 - Cold Moon

Many of these ancient moon names have been given based on the behaviour of the plants, animals, or weather during that month.

It is said that they were the names given by Native American tribes and included into our modern calendar. However the full moon names we now use also have Anglo-Saxon and Germanic roots.

Let’s hope with the lovely sunny day we have had today we shall all get a glimpse of the pink supermoon.