Full Pink Supermoon About To Fill NYC's Skies

NEW YORK CITY — A cosmic distraction from the coronavirus is set to be a good opportunity to be outside your home, while social distancing of course.

If the weather cooperates in New York City, the third supermoon of the year, also known as the “full pink moon,” is expected to put be an awe-inspiring sight Tuesday.

The largest of four consecutive supermoons could be blighted by the weather — forecasters are predicting a showery night.

The supermoon will shine brightly all night long, climbing to its highest point around 10:35 p.m. But the best times to get out and enjoy it are when it comes up and when it sets.

Supermoons are an illusion. They aren’t any larger than any other full moon, but a trick of the eye makes you see them as inflated orbs that are brighter and bigger than normal full moons.

They occur when our natural satellite reaches its closest point to Earth in its orbit (called perigee). When that happens, the moon appears about 30 percent brighter and 15 percent larger than when the moon is at its farthest point from our planet (called apogee).

And despite its moniker, the April full pink supermoon is not a rosy orb. It’ll take on its typical golden hue as it rises, then turn bright white as it climbs higher in the sky.

It’s called a pink moon because the April full moon closely corresponds to the emergence of the bright pink phlox flowers. The April full moon may also be called the sprouting grass moon, the egg moon and the fish moon.

The first to occur after the spring equinox, the April full moon is also called the Paschal full moon because it determines the date of Easter, the “movable feast” that falls on a different date each year. Easter always follows the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon.

You’ll likely see some websites that say the April full moon is the second supermoon of the year. Astronomers and astrologists disagreed on whether the February full moon was a supermoon. Space.com settles the dispute by calling it “kind of a supermoon.”

Though the February full moon’s supermoon status was questioned, astronomers and astrologists agree the March, April and May full moons qualify for the designation.

Of all of the supermoons, this is the one to see. It will be closer to Earth than the one in March and the upcoming supermoon on May 7.

One other thing to look forward to in April, besides the supermoon, is the beginning of spring and summer meteor showers.

The Lyrid meteor shower runs April 16-25, peaking on the 22nd and 23rd. It’s not the best of the year, reliably producing only around 20 meteors an hour, but enough of them have bright dust trails that it’s worth searching for them in the early morning sky. A relatively new moon will make for dark skies and ideal viewing conditions.