4/7/20 Update:
This is your friendly reminder that the brightest supermoon of 2020 is happening tonight.
The supermoon will be its best around 10:35 PM Eastern standard time to midnight so be sure to get out and check out this “pink moon” tonight!
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3/31/20 Original article:
If you are trying to look for things to add to your calendar to look forward to, you might have something new early next month. On April 7, we will see the brightest supermoon of 2020.
A super moon occurs whenever a full moon is on the same night that the moon reaches its closest point to the Earth on its orbit; this is also known as the “perigee.” At this point, supermoons are about 7% bigger and also 15% brighter than a standard full moon.
At its peak, the moon will only be 221,772 miles from Earth. This means that it will only be a few hundred miles further than one of the closest super moons we had in recent history back in November 2016.
This full moon will peak at 9:35 central standard time on April 7.
This particular supermoon is called a pink moon but don’t get too excited because that does not mean that the color of the moon will be unusual or even pink. (The moon will look golden orange when it is low in the sky and then will shift to a brighter white as it rises.)
Like some other supermoon names, the color is attached to something that has nothing to do with the glow of the moon. Instead, the name comes from the pink wildflowers that bloom in early spring according to Catherine Boeckmann at the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
If you are interested in other night sky events coming soon, on Friday Venus will be visible near a cluster of stars called the Pleiades and the Lyrids meteor shower peaks on April 22 and 23.
If you live near an area with minimal light pollution, this would be a perfect time to get into events in the night sky. There are a number of easy to use apps that will show you where things will be appearing in the night sky and those are great ways to get introduced to things like stargazing.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
