The first full moon of springtime will share the night sky with three bright planets in a dazzling twilight display this week.
The April full moon, also known as the “Pink Moon,” will occur on the night of Wednesday, April 5 into the morning of Thursday, April 6, according to EarthSky.org. Though the moon will appear very bright and round for about three days starting on April 4, the precise time of the full moon’s peak will be 12:34 a.m. on April 6.
As a bonus, three of the five visible planets also will be in the sky the evening of April 5, just as the moon is about to hit peak fullness, according to NASA. Venus, the brightest, will be about a third of the way up between the western horizon and the peak of the sky overhead; Mercury, second brightest, will be just above the west-northwestern horizon; and Mars, third brightest, will be roughly two-thirds of the way up between the west-southwestern horizon and the very top of the sky. (A stargazing app can help here.)
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the April full moon gets its colorful nickname because it historically coincided with the blooming of flowers and trees this time of year – specifically a pink-blooming plant called creeping phlox, moss phlox, or “moss pink.”
Since the 1930s, the Farmer’s Almanac has been publishing full moon names derived from a number of references, including Native American, European, and early Colonial American sources. Each full moon name traditionally was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not just to the precise astronomical full moon.
Other traditional names for the April full moon, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, include references to what happens during this season, including the Breaking Ice Moon (Algonquin), Moon When the Streams Are Again Navigable (Dakota), the Budding Moon of Plants and Shrubs (Tlingit), Moon of the Red Grass Appearing (Oglala), Moon When the Ducks Come Back (Lakota), Moon When the Geese Lay Eggs (Dakota), and the Frog Moon (Cree).
According to Northern Michigan University’s Center for Native American Studies, the April full moon for some Anishinaabeg people in the Great Lakes region is known as Popogami Giizis (Poh-poh-gah-mi), meaning Broken Snowshoe Moon.
All full moons rise along the eastern horizon near sunset and set along the western horizon near sunrise, and are visible throughout the night if the skies are clear. If you’d like to see the full Pink Moon this week, check your local moonrise time for April 5 and try to find a place outdoors with a wide-open view of the horizon, the point at which the moon will appear its largest when it comes into view.
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