Hey Space Placers!
May 2020 Full Flower Supermoon
Greg Redfern
I hope your spring skies are clear tonight, April 26th-27th, as the year's first Full Supermoon is set to occur worldwide.
As a reminder, a Full Supermoon is when the Full Moon occurs within 24 hours of perigee, or when the Moon is closest to the Earth during the lunar month
For those of us on the East Coast of the U.S., The Full Pink Supermoon will occur precisely at 11:31 p.m. EDT. The "Pink" is in reference to a pink flower called moss pink that blooms in spring.
What's more, this is the FIRST of THREE in a row Full Supermoons that are going to occur April, May and June according to Earhsky.org. NASA - see below - says there are only two Supermoons occurring in April and May. Some publications are reporting four Supermoons for 2021. The differences are a result of how a publication or organization defines a Supermoon. I chose to split the difference and go with three as EarthSky.org is doing.
May's Full Supermoon will be the closest Full Moon for the entire year while tonight's will be the second closest of the year by only 95 miles difference. Ocean tides will be higher and lower as a result of the Moon being this close to Earth.
NASA has more information on tonight's Full Pink Supermoon as well as some other celestial events.
The Full Pink Supermoon will look a little brighter tonight and will be a bit larger that experienced Moon watchers may notice. It will be a glorious sight to behold in the crisp spring air.
Moonrise will be in the East at sunset with the bright star Spica just above the Moon. The bright orangish star to the left of the Moon is beautiful Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in the entire night sky.
Be sure to get out and enjoy Luna's splendor.......
Sky Guy in VA
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