Stunning photos show last night’s pink full moon – and there’s a chance you’ll see it again tonight
Stunning new images show the ‘pink moon’ that made a spectacle for skywatchers around the world last night.
The Pink Moon – the moon when it reaches full illumination in April – has been photographed around the world, from Wiltshire to San Francisco.
A full moon occurs 12 or 13 times a year when the entire side of the moon that faces Earth is illuminated by the sun’s rays, making it appear as a full sphere.
Nicknames used to describe the full moon have historically been used to keep track of the seasons and are therefore closely linked to nature.
“Pink” is the common name for April’s full moon, as historically it heralded the appearance of moss pink – one of the first flowers of spring.
April’s full moon – the phase of the moon when the entire disc is illuminated – reached 100 percent illumination at 05:34 BST Thursday morning. Pictured at Stonehenge, Wiltshire
The pink moon rises over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge as seen from Sausalito in San Francisco, California April 05, 2023
April’s full moon reached 100 percent illumination at 05:34 BST on Thursday morning as it was illuminated by the sun’s rays.
Anna Gammon-Ross, astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, said the moon will still be visible as a large round ball tonight – although technically it won’t be a full moon anymore.
The moon’s illumination as seen from Earth is already decreasing and will drop back to 0 percent on April 20th.
“When the moon rises tonight it will look very full but will actually only be about 99.8 percent illuminated,” Gammon-Ross told MailOnline.
“Tonight the moon rises in the east at about 8:15 p.m., moves slowly across the sky throughout the night, and sets towards the west just before 7 a.m. the next morning.”
It’s a common misconception that the name “pink moon” refers to the color of the moon.
Whenever the full moon appears, it is given a nickname depending on the month of the year.
So January is Wolf Moon, February is Snow Moon, March is Worm Moon, April is Pink Moon and so on.
Pink Moon shines over Al-Ikhlas Mosque in Ungaran, Central Java Province, Indonesia in the early morning of April 6, 2023
Photo of the pink moon rising while people take a walk in Athens, Greece on Wednesday, April 5, 2023
The Pink Moon sets over San Francisco on April 5, 2023 as seen from the Oakland Hills, California. Pink Moon is the name for April’s full moon and has nothing to do with its color
The full moon rises east of the Van Nuys Air Traffic Control Tower in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, April 5, 2023
The name “Pink Moon” can be particularly confusing, as the moon often appears to take on pink hues, although this is a trick of the light, Gammon-Ross explained.
“Usually when the moon looks pink, it’s low in the sky,” she told MailOnline.
“That’s because the sun’s light has to travel farther through the atmosphere before it can reach the moon when it’s in this position.
“This greater distance means more bluish light is scattered, leaving only the redder parts of the rainbow spectrum.”
A full moon occurs every 29.5 days – the amount of time it takes for the moon to complete a full lunar cycle.
As this is a little less than a month, two full moons sometimes occur within a month – a rare astronomical event known as a “blue moon”.
Normally, blue moons only come about every two or three years—hence the phrase “once in a blue moon.”
The next blue moon occurs on August 31st this year, and it will also be a “supermoon,” a full moon that appears larger than usual.
So what causes a supermoon? The moon orbits an elliptical orbit, which means that one side of the orbit is closer to Earth than the other side.
At the closest point in the lunar orbit, it appears 14 percent larger than a micromoon and vice versa
The closest point in orbit is called perigee, creating an unusually large and bright “supermoon.”
Sometimes the moon is in perigee without being fully illuminated, which is why we don’t get a supermoon all that often.
While a full moon occurs roughly every 29.5 days, a supermoon is a much rarer event — typically there are only three or four a year.
There will be four Supermoons in 2023, all occurring in either summer or fall – July 3rd, August 1st, August 31st (which is also a blue moon), and September 29th.
According to EarthSky, the moon will be 222,043 miles from Earth on August 31, closer than any of the other three supermoons for 2023, so it should be particularly large and bright — and not one to overlook.
Full Moon, Super Moon, Pink Moon: What’s the Difference?
A FULL MOON is the phase of the moon when its entire disk is illuminated.
During the 29.5-day lunar cycle, we observe a new moon (with 0 percent illumination), a waxing moon (when the amount of illumination on the moon increases), a full moon (100 percent illumination), and then a waning moon (when its visible surface area becomes smaller becomes).
Because our modern calendar doesn’t quite align with the phases of the moon, we sometimes have more than one full moon in a month. This is commonly known as a blue moon.
In the meantime a SUPER MOON is when the full moon almost coincides with perigee — the point in the moon’s orbit where it is closest to Earth.
That means a supermoon can appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than when it’s furthest from Earth.
There are about three or four supermoons a year, most astronomy websites claim, and they occur at different times each year.
In short, a super moon is a full moon. But it’s bigger and brighter than a normal full moon.
Last, PINK MOON simply refers to the time of year when the full moon appears.
This name does not refer to the color of the moon, but to a wildflower called moss pink (Phlox subulata) that blooms around the same time.
“Pink” is the common name for April’s full moon, as historically it heralded the appearance of moss-pink (Phlox subulata).
Different months of the year have different nicknames – so January is Wolf Moon, February is Snow Moon, March is Worm Moon, April is Rosa Moon, and so on.
Full moon names have historically been used to track the seasons of the year and are therefore closely linked to nature.
When a supermoon appears in April, it is known as a “pink supermoon.”
The Complete List of Full Moon Nicknames:
January: wolf moon because wolves were heard more frequently at that time.
February: snow moon coincide with heavy snowfall.
march: worm moon as the sun increasingly warmed the soil and earthworms became active.
April: pink moon when it heralded the appearance of Phlox subulata or Moss Pink – one of the first spring flowers.
May: flower moon because of the flowers.
June: strawberry moon because it appeared when the strawberry harvest first took place.
July: buck moon how it arrived when a male deer’s antlers were in full growth mode.
August: sturgeon moon after the big fish that was easy to catch at that time.
September: corn moon because this was the time to harvest corn.
October: Hunter’s moon after the hunting season to prepare for winter.
November: beaver moon because it was time to set up beaver traps.
December: cold moon because the nights were the longest at this time of year.
Source: Old farmer’s almanac