HOW CAN I SEE THE PINK SUPERMOON? If you looked out of your window come sunset on Tuesday April 27 or try looking to the night sky on Wednesday April 28, you should be able to see what is known as the Pink Moon, a special full moon that is also known by many other mysterious-sounding names, including the Egg Moon, the Fish Moon and the Sprouting Grass Moon.
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WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THIS MOON? This moon is special because it is a type of Supermoon, meaning it appears larger in the sky than regular full moons do. The moon tonight should look about 7% bigger and 14% brighter than the full moons you are used to seeing.
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WHAT IS A SUPERMOON? Supermoons are extra-large moons, which look bigger because they occur when the moon is at its closest point to the Earth on its orbit. This month’s Pink Moon is passing just 360,000km of Earth (it’s usually 384,400 km away) making it the first supermoon of 2021.
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WHAT CAUSES A SUPER MOON? When the Moon, the Earth and the Sun are all lined up together with the Earth between the Moon and Sun, sunlight shines on the whole moon’s surface and is reflected back to Earth. On Earth, this is what we know as a full Moon. But because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t a perfect circle, sometimes the moon is closer to the Earth than at other times. When the moon is at its closest point on its orbit to the Earth coincides with the celestial line-up that causes a full Moon, this is known as a Supermoon.
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HOW DID THE PINK MOON GET ITS NAME? The poetic names for this type of moon stems back to Native American culture in the USA. Because this type of full moon occurs in April, it coincides with the onset of Spring in the Northern hemisphere, which is colourfully signaled in many parts of America by the emergence of Pink Moss – one of the earliest widespread flowers of Spring. You can imagine how beautiful an especially big and bright Supermoon would look against a field of this vibrant flower, and hence the name was born. This also explains the nickname Sprouting Grass Moon, while it also got called the Fish Moon because it appears at the time when the shad fish swims upstream.
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IS THE MOON ACTUALLY PINK? Unfortunately the Pink Moon will not appear bright pink in the way you might be hoping. However, sometimes the moon can take on a pinkish hue when it is close to the horizon because of the nitrogen and oxygen particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, which are better at scattering light of shorter wavelengths (like blue and violet light) but less good at scattering light of longer wavelengths (like red and yellow light). As this April’s moon is predicted to be low in the sky in certain parts of the world, it may look pinker than your average moon.
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HOW RARE IS A PINK MOON? This is actually the first of two Supermoons expected this year, with the second slated to happen on 26 May 2021. Other types of moon you may have heard of are Blue Moons – which happen every two to three years - and Blood Moons, which happen with a similar frequency.
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WHY CAN I SOMETIMES SEE THE MOON DURING THE DAY? The Moon is up just as much during the day as it is at night, but you might not notice it as often because the Sun is also up. Also, because the moon phases that we usually see in daylight often only show a little bit of the moon’s bright side (eg crescent moons), it’s harder to see in the daylight when you don’t have the contrast against the darkness of night.
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WHY DOES THE MOON VARY IN SIZE IN THE SKY? The moon varies in size because of an optical illusion that means we perceive the moon to appear larger when it is closest to the horizon. There are many theories as to why this might be, but for the most part it is a mystery.
Image Credit: REUTERS
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WHAT OTHER COOL MOON EVENTS CAN I SEE THIS YEAR? On May 26 space fans can look forward to a Total Lunar Eclipse, which occurs when the Moon passes completely through the Earth's dark shadow. During this type of eclipse, the Moon will gradually get darker and then take on a rusty or blood red color. The eclipse will be visible throughout the Pacific Ocean and parts of eastern Asia, Japan, Australia, and western North America.There are many other moon events happening throughout the year too – stay tuned!
Image Credit: Souhayl Ben Khaled United Arab Emirates Astronomy Group
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