There’s a full ‘pink moon’ on Saturday night. It’s also a micromoon.
Often called the pink moon, April’s full moon will rise Saturday. The fourth full moon of the year, and the first of astronomical spring, it also happens to be a micromoon — the opposite of a supermoon.
It will reach its peak at 8:22 p.m. Eastern time.
Rising in the east-southeast sky, the pink moon will shine bright in the evening sky where clouds don’t block the view.
While the peak intensity of the pink moon will be late Saturday, there will be a stunning flow in the sky for several nights in a row. From Thursday to Monday, the moon will illuminate to 95% or more of totality. Saturday and Sunday will both feature a functionally full disk.
While the moon has varied names, the most prominent one — the pink moon — is tied to the fact that it’s a spring event, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Phlox, a mossy plant that produces a carpet of flowers, is a common early season growth in the Northern Hemisphere. Phlox comes in several pastel colors, including pink.
Other names for this full moon include Paschal and Lenten, although those two vary based on when Easter Sunday falls.
“The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox,” the Royal Museums Greenwich wrote. “If the full moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.”
This year, it’s the Paschal moon because it happens after the spring equinox, while in some years it comes before the spring equinox and gets the name Lenten.
While the full moon rises Saturday in the United States, it will already be Sunday in much of the world.
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Why is this also a micromoon?
The so-called micromoon phenomenon occurs when the moon is in apogee, or at its farthest from Earth. It is the second and most distant such event of three consecutive events from March through May this year.
Micromoons and supermoons are features of the moon’s elliptical orbit around our planet. The actual difference in intensity to the eye is relatively small, especially while the moon is low on the horizon and its apparent size is maximized through various optical illusions.
The next supermoon series will come during fall with the October, November and December full moons. Supermoons happen with the moon in perigee, while at its closest to Earth.
Current cloud cover forecasts are best for unobstructed viewing Saturday night across a big chunk of the South to Southeast, portions of the West and scattered about elsewhere in the Lower 48. There should also be lots of clear skies over Mexico and the Caribbean.
Clouds are likelier than not for much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, where a slow-moving storm is slated to be passing by, creating murky conditions. Much of the northern tier may also be rather cloudy, as perhaps will most of Canada.