Don’t miss tonight’s Pink Moon, the biggest supermoon of the year

Tonight’s full moon, the Pink Moon, will be the biggest and brightest supermoon of 2020.

The Pink Moon will be full at 10:35 p.m., and will appear full through Thursday morning.

Despite it’s name though, it isn’t really pink.

The full moon in April is known as the Pink Moon because of the pink bloom of herb moss pink, also known as creeping phlox, which is native to the eastern part of the United States and one of the earliest widespread flowers of spring, Gordon Johnston, NASA planetary program executive reported.

Other names include the Pesach, or Passover Moon, and Paschal Moon, the full moon from which the date of Easter is calculated.

Scientist Noah Petro of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland told the Associated Press the important thing is to stay safe while moon-gazing during the coronavirus pandemic.

“If you can’t get out safely ... then fine,” Petro said. “Go out next month or whenever it’s safe again. Use the full moon as an excuse to get out and start looking at the moon.”

He added: “Use this as an opportunity to not physically distance yourself, but emotionally connect with something that is physically far from us.”

The term “supermoon,” coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979, refers to either a new or full moon that occurs within 90 percent of perigee, its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit, Johnston said.

For 2020, the four full moons from February to May meet this 90 percent threshold, with the full moons in March and April nearly tied in size and brightness. However, April’s Pink Moon will be slightly closer to Earth (about 0.1 percent) than the March full moon, so Johnston said this will be the “most super” of the full supermoons this year.

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