A bigger, brighter ‘pink supermoon’ will be visible in the sky during the early hours of tomorrow morning
Stargazers are set for a rare sighting of the pink supermoon, which is due to be visible across the UK this week.
April’s full moon is also commonly known as the ‘pink moon’ and is named after pink phlox flowers which bloom in the Spring.
Despite its name, the pink moon will unfortunately not be pink in colour, but will instead appear brighter in our skies than a usual full moon.
The sighting is particularly special as people across the UK will be able to catch a glimpse of this year’s first supermoon, which marks the closest point at which the moon comes to our planet in its orbit. As a result, the moon will appear brighter and larger than usual over the next few days.
An astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, Anna Ross, told the PA news agency: “A supermoon is the result of a full moon occurring when the moon is near its closest point to the Earth in its orbit.
“This can happen because the moon orbits the Earth on an elliptical path, rather than a circular one.
“As this means that the moon is a little closer to us, it appears slightly bigger in the sky.”
Ross said: “The average distance of the moon from the Earth is 384,400km, but the moon will reach its closest point this lunar month on April 27 at 16:24, when it will be 357,379 km away.”
She continued: “The exact moment of the full moon closest to this point – so the supermoon – is also on April 27, but at 04:31.”
The astronomer said that the best time to catch a glimpse of the supermoon will be “during the night of April 27” when “the moon will rise in the east just before sunset and set in the west around sunrise.”
If you miss tomorrow morning’s sighting, the next supermoon will be visible in the sky next month.
