April’s Pink Full Moon to share the spring sky with 3 bright planets this week

The first full moon of spring will share the night sky with three bright planets in a dazzling aurora display this week.

April’s full moon, also known as the “pink moon,” will occur on the night of Wednesday, April 5, through the morning of Thursday, April 6, according to the EarthSky.org. Although the moon will look very bright and round for about three days starting on April 4, the exact time for the full moon peak will be 12:34 a.m. on April 6.

As a bonus, three of the five planets visible will be in the sky on the evening of April 5, just as the moon is about to reach peak fullness, according to NASA. Venus, the brightest, will be about a third of the distance between the western horizon and the sky’s apex; Mercury, the second brightest star, will be just above the western and northwest horizon; And Mars, the third brightest, will be about two-thirds of the way up between the western-southwest horizon and the top of the sky. (Stargazing can help here.)

according to Old Farmer’s AlmanacApril’s full moon got its colorful nickname because it historically coincided with the blooming of flowers and trees at this time of year—specifically a pink plant called creeping phlox, moss, or “pink moss.”

Since the 1930s, the Farmers’ Almanac has published full moon names drawn from a number of references, including Native American, European, and early Colonial American sources. Each name for the moon has traditionally been applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not just to the astronomically accurate full moon.

Other traditional names for the full moon for April, according to the Farmers’ Almanac, include references to what happens during the season, including the ice-breaking moon (Algonquin), the moon when streams become navigable again (Dakota), the emerging moon for plants and shrubs (Tlingit ), the red grass rising moon (Oglala), the moon when ducks return (Lakota), the moon when geese lay eggs (Dakota), and the frog moon (Cree).

According to Northern Michigan University Native American Studies CenterThe April full moon is known to some Anishinaabeg people of the Great Lakes region as Popogami Giizis (Buh buh gah mi), meaning the Snowshoes Broken Moon.

All full moons rise along the eastern horizon near sunset and set along the western horizon near sunrise, and are visible all night if the sky is clear. If you want to see the pink full moon this week, Check the local moonrise time On April 5th and try to find a spot outdoors with a wide open view of the horizon, the point at which the moon will appear greatest when seen.

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