“Pink Moon 2021”: This year’s first Supermoon

What is the News?

People around the world on 26th April 2021 witnessed the first Supermoon or Pink Moon

What is Supermoon?

• The Astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 coined the term Supermoon .
• The supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with a perigee (A point of the Moon’s orbit closest to Earth).
• The supermoon makes the moon appear a little bigger and looks brighter than usual. However, to our own eyes, the differences are indistinguishable.

Why call it ‘Pink Moon’?

• The moon will not be originally pink. It got its name from the pink wildflowers (Wild Ground Phlox). These flowers bloom in the spring and are native to North America.
• Further, there are many other names for this moon. Such as Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, the Paschal moon, and the Fish Moon.

Other definitions:

Blue Moon: When two full moons appear in the same calendar month, the second is termed a “blue moon”.

Blood Moon:

• The meaning of a “blood moon” is based on its red glow of the moon. The blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse.
• During a total lunar eclipse, Earth lines up between the Moon and the Sun. This hides the Moon from the sunlight.
• When this happens, the only light that reaches the Moon’s surface is from the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere.
• The air molecules from Earth’s atmosphere scatter out most of the blue light. The remaining light reflects onto the Moon’s surface with a red glow making the Moon appear red in the night sky.

Note: The name “blood moon” is also sometimes used for a Moon that appears reddish because of dust, smoke or haze in the sky.

Source: Hindustan Times