What is Pink Supermoon?

Have you been stargazing to pass time during your quarantine stay at home?If so, prepare to see the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year on Tuesday night. Supermoons occur when the moon is within 90% of perigee; which is its closest approach to Earth in orbit. The moon will appear brighter and bigger in the night sky, and hopefully no clouds and inclement weather will screen the view. If you miss it on Tuesday, do not worry - the moon will appear full on Wednesday night, as well.

Pink Super Moon

What is Super Moon?

A super moon takes place when a full moon is at its closest to the Earth. The moon revolves around our planet in an elliptical orbit i.e. as an oval and it has a farthest and closest point from the earth as it goes around the Earth. When the full moon appears at perigee it is slightly brighter and larger than a normal full moon, although it is difficult to point the difference with naked eye, and that is what we call a "supermoon."

What is Pink Supermoon?

While this year has a couple of supermoons popping up, this pink supermoon is supposed to be the biggest and brightest of all. Well, this one will be the closest the moon will get to the earth than any of the other full moons. The first supermoon of this year was on 9 March and the last one will take place on 7 May. Another reason is that supermoons are also seven percent bigger and about 15 percent brighter than the usual full moons.

 Unlike the Blood moons that have a tint of red to it, the Pink moons do not have even a hint of pink in it. It gets its name from the pink wildflowers – Wild Ground Phlox. Other names for this full moon include Sprouting Grass Moon, Fish Moon, Hare Moon, and Egg Moon. It is also called Paschal moon because, in the Christian calendar, this is used to calculate the date for Easter- the first Sunday after the Paschal moon is Easter Sunday.

Phlox subulata

Image credit: Shutterstock

It coincides with the first lunar eclipse of the year, which will be visible for those living in eastern Europe, Africa, central Asia and western Australia, NASA says. It’s a partial eclipse that will last about 27 minutes. It won’t be visible from North America, the space agency says.

For those who want to see the eclipse but aren’t located in the right place, the Slooh telescope will be streaming a live video of the event online. You can also watch live streaming in Youtube and other webcasts.

Streaming of Pink Super moon

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