When is the pink moon? What time will the Super Full Moon take place in April 2021 and what does it mean

A full ‘pink’ moon will shine in the sky later this month – and it’s especially worth looking outside.

Full moons occur about once a month when the earth is located directly between the sun and the moon.

This month, the moon will be full at 23:33 ET on Monday, April 26th. At this point, the side of the moon looking at us will be completely illuminated and look like a perfect circle.

In North America, the full moon in April is often called the ‘pink moon’, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with the color of the earth’s satellite.

The name probably comes from the pink flowers of the creeping phlox or moss phlox – a plant native to eastern North America – that often blooms around this time of year, according to The old farmer’s almanac.

The names given to the full moons come from a number of places and historical periods, including Native American, colonial American, and European sources.

Other traditional names for the full moon in April are the ice moon that breaks, moon when the currents are navigable again, budding moon of plants and shrubs, moon of the red grass that appears, moon when the ducks return, moon when the whole eggs lay and frogman.

This month’s full moon is remarkable because it will also be a ‘supermoon’. It refers to any full moon that occurs when our satellite is within 10 percent of its perigee, or the minimum distance from Earth.

On average, supermoons appear about 7 percent larger and 15 percent brighter than typical full moons. But most observers will probably find it difficult to see the difference, because full moons are only seen once a month and cannot be directly compared to each other.

For the best view of April’s pink moon, go to an open area and look at the supermoon as it rises just above the horizon. At this point, the moon will appear at its greatest thanks to a phenomenon known as the “lunar illusion”.

Next month another supermoon is visible. The May full moon, which falls on May 26 this year, is known as the flower moon.

If you can not go outside to look at the pink moon, the Virtual Telescope Project, based in Italy, offers a live feed of the opportunity with views of our satellite rising above the city of Rome. The live stream starts at 17:15 UTC (13:15 ET) on April 26th.