The Super Pink Moon of 2021 rises tonight, but it won't look pink
By
Tereza Pultarova - Senior Writer 16 hours ago
Pink supermoon is the first and one of only two supermoons of 2021.
The first of only two supermoons of 2021 rises in a Super Pink Full Moon tonight (April 26) and you have a chance to watch it online if bad weather clouds out your view.
Supermoons are full moons that appear bigger in the sky than usual, though the difference may not be noticeable to the casual observer. During a supermoon, the
full moon can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is at its farthest from Earth. That’s because it coincides with the moon's arrival at perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit.
The Virtual Telescope Project led by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi will offer a free live webcast of the supermoon over Ceccano, Italy today at 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 GMT), but only if good weather permits.
You can watch it live here.
During the
April full moon tonight and early Tuesday, the moon will be about 222,064 miles (357,378 kilometers) away from Earth, that is about 8% closer than the distance of an average full moon (240,000 miles or 384,400 km). This fluctuation in the full moon's distance is caused by the fact that the moon's orbit around the Earth isn't perfectly circular but very slightly elliptical. If the full moon occurs closer to the perigee (the closest point to Earth on this slightly elliptical orbit), it can appear bigger than if it occurs closer to the apogee (the farthest point).
"Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding which full moons qualify as supermoons, but for 2021 all agree the two full moons in April and May are supermoons," NASA's Gordon Johnston
wrote in a guide.
April full moon is also called the Pink Moon, but it has nothing to do with its color.
According to NASA, the April moon got its name after the herb pink moss, also known as creeping phlox, moss phlox or mountain phlox, which is one of the earliest spring flowers appearing in the United States.