Don’t miss the 'pink supermoon,' the biggest full moon of the year
Get your cameras ready: The supermoon (aka the ‘super pink moon’) will make its glowing appearance on Tuesday, April 7 and prime viewing of the celestial event should peak between 10:35 p.m. ET to midnight.
April’s supermoon will be the biggest full moon in our sky in all of 2020, and according to Jackie Faherty, PhD, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, you won’t want to miss it.
The event occurs when the moon, “our cosmic partner,” is full and at its closest point to the Earth, appearing bigger and brighter. “Everybody gets all romantic about the sunrise and the sunset but a moonrise and a moonset can be very dramatic and exciting,” Faherty tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “They are spectacular.”
The ‘super pink moon’ got its fitting name from the pink flowers that bloom in early April in eastern North America. Although the moon itself will not be pink in color, due to an effect caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, it can appear golden, orange or blue, depending on its location on the horizon.
It takes about 28 days for the moon to circle the Earth and during its orbit, it gets closer or farther from the Earth, explains Faherty. (the closest point of the moon’s orbit is about 226,000 miles away, reports NASA).
“The moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle,” she says. “If it’s full — meaning, all of the sun’s light is hitting the face that faces us — and if it’s at its closest approach when that happens, it will appear a little bit brighter and maybe a smidge bigger.”
The moon has other exciting phases, according to NASA. A “blood moon” appears when the moon is concealed from the sunlight in a total lunar eclipse, and the “harvest moon” is a full moon that appears when fall kicks off. “The name dates from the time before electricity, when farmers depended on the moon's light to harvest their crops late into the night,” explains NASA.
CNN reports that 2020 has 4 super moons in total. Catch the next one on May 7.
For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHO’s resource guides.
How to maintain your physical and mental health during the pandemic
Taking care of a loved one with COVID-19? Here’s how to stay healthy
Q&A with Dr. Kavita Patel: How to keep your family safe and maintain your mental health
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
On 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing, here's why 'moon truthers' still exist
How climate change may raise the suicide rate, kill 2,000 extra people a year
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter.
