Look up tonight! The Full Pink Moon reaches its peak tonight as our entire lunar satellite is illuminated by the sun

If you enjoy stargazing, make sure you reserve this evening in your diary.

Tonight the Full Pink Moon will reach its peak as our entire lunar satellite is illuminated by the sun.

Despite its nickname, the moon doesn’t really look pink.

Instead, the name comes from the herb moss pink, one of the earliest widespread flowers of spring.

“Other names for this moon are the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and in coastal tribes the Fish Moon, because the shad would swim upstream to spawn,” NASA explained.

Full moons occur about once a month, when the moon is opposite the sun as seen from Earth.

This alignment reveals the dayside of the moon, making it appear full and bright in the night sky.

The Pink Moon will officially peak at 12:49 AM BST on Wednesday morning (7:49 PM EDT on Tuesday evening in the US).

“The moon will appear full at this time for about three days, from Monday morning to Thursday morning,” NASA explained.

The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing “Indian” names for full moons in the 1930s, and these are now widely known and used around the world.

April’s full moon is commonly called the Pink Moon, according to this almanac, but you may also hear people call it the Pisces Moon, the Egg Moon, or the Grass Moon.

April’s full moon is commonly called the Pink Moon, according to this almanac, but you may also hear people calling it the Fish Moon, the Egg Moon, or the Grass Moon

In the Hebrew calendar this is also the Pesach, or Pesach moon, while for Buddhists this is the Bak Poya.

The Hindu lunisolar calendar has a number of variations, although for most regions this full moon corresponds to the Hanuman Jayanti festival, the celebration of the birth of Lord Hanuman.

Meanwhile, this full moon is in the middle of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar, and in the middle of the third month of the Chinese year of the dragon.

“Wearing appropriate festive celestial attire is encouraged in honor of the full moon,” NASA added.

‘Enjoy the early flowers and sprouting grass of spring, get an extra seat at the table and prevent wars from breaking out!’

The phases of the moon

Like the Earth, the moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the moon rotates.

The sun always illuminates half of the moon while the other half remains dark, but how much of that illuminated half we can see changes as the moon travels through its orbit.

In the Northern Hemisphere the phases of the moon are:

1. New moon

This is the invisible phase of the moon, where the illuminated side of the moon faces the sun and the night side faces Earth.

2. Waxing Crescent

This silver patch of moon is created when the illuminated half of the moon is largely pointed away from Earth, while only a small portion is visible to us from our planet.

3. First quarter

The moon has now completed a quarter of its monthly journey and you are seeing half of its illuminated side.

4. Waxing Gibbous

Now most of the Moon’s dayside has come into view and the Moon is brighter in the sky.

5. Full moon

This is as close as we can get to the sun illuminating the entire dayside of the moon.

6. Declining gibbous

As the moon begins its journey back to the sun, the far side of the moon now reflects the moon’s light.

7. Last quarter

The moon looks like it’s half-lit from Earth’s perspective, but in reality you’re seeing half of the half of the moon illuminated by the sun – or a quarter.

8. Waning crescent moon

The Moon is almost back to the point in its orbit where the dayside faces directly toward the Sun, and all we see from our perspective is a thin curve.