The full moon of April, or Pink Moon – named after the radiant pink flowers that bloom in early spring – will bathe the sky in bright moonlight this Saturday (April 16).
The pink moon will be fully lit for a moment, at. 14:55 EDT (18:55 GMT), but it will look full for three days in total: From Friday morning (April 15) to early Monday (April 18), according to NASA (opens in new tab).
In other words, this will be “a full moon weekend, “Gordon Johnston, a program director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, DC, wrote in the NASA statement.
The full moon occurs about once a month when it reaches sun, Earth and the moon are in line on an imaginary 180-degree line. The Moon’s orbit is about 5 degrees different from that of the Earth, so it is usually slightly higher or lower than the Earth’s shadow, allowing the sun’s rays to illuminate its near side or the side facing. the earthAndrea Jones, NASA Science Communicator, formerly told WordsSideKick.com in a video interview.
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Sometimes during a full moon, part or all of the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon, making it a lunar eclipse. The next lunar eclipse will take place next month, the 15th-16th. May 2022, when a total lunar eclipse will make the moon a rusty red, giving it the eerie term “blood moon”. The normally white moon turns red because some of the sun’s light travels around the Earth, where our atmosphere filters out the shorter wavelengths, such as blue and purple, but allows red and orange wavelengths through, meaning they can reach the moon and make it burgundy. , Live Science previously reported. May’s total lunar eclipse will be visible from parts of North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to timeanddate.com (opens in new tab).
April’s Pink Moon will also be a sight to behold. Although it does not actually look pink, it gets its name from the flower herb moss pink, also called creeping phlox, moss phlox or mountain phlox, a plant native to the eastern United States that blooms early springaccording to NASA. Other names for the April moon include Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon and Fish Moon, as that is when the shadow historically swims upstream to spawn, according to the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, as reported by NASA.
This moon is also known as the Passover or Passover moon, as the Jewish holiday Easter begins at sunset Friday and lasts for eight days (seven days for Reform Jews and Jews in Israel). During Seder, a ritually-filled feast held each of the first two nights of Easter, families remember the biblical events in which Moses delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
For Christians, this is the Easter moon, which helps determine the date of Easter. Paschal is the Latinized word for Pesach. Western Christianity celebrates Easter, a holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, which explains why Easter is April 17 this year. Eastern Christianity, on the other hand, uses the Julian instead Gregorian calendar nor does it celebrate Easter during Easter, so Eastern Orthodox churches will celebrate Easter on April 24 this year, according to Britannica.
Meanwhile, Hindus will celebrate Hanuman Jayanti, who observes the birth of Lord Hanuman and corresponds in most regions to the full moon Chaitra, a month in the Hindu lunar calendar.
For Buddhists, especially in Sri Lanka, where it is a national holiday, this full moon marks Bak Poya, a day to remember when the Buddha visited Sri Lanka and averted a war by settling a dispute between chiefs, NASA reported.
After the pink moon in April and the total lunar eclipse in May, skywatchers will be dazzled by five planets on the sky line, Live Science previously reported. Summer will also usher in two super moons in a row. June’s full Super Strawberry Moon on June 14 and July’s Super Buck Moon on July 13 will appear up to 14% brighter and 7% larger than average full moons, according to timeanddate.com (opens in new tab).
Originally published on Live Science.