April’s full moon is coming up, but rather than the massive glowing orb typically seen during this point in the lunar cycle, the moon is likely going to look smaller.
The moon is anticipated to reach its full moon phase on April 12, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Rather than being a supermoon, when the moon reaches its nearest point to Earth within its orbit, the moon should be at its furthest point, or apogee.
When it reaches this point, it’s referred to as a micromoon, NASA stated. Also at this point, the moon is 252,088 miles away from Earth, according to the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London. On average, the moon is 238,855 miles away from Earth.
Despite orbiting Earth, the moon is on an elliptical orbit with a far point (the apogee) and a close point, called the perigee by astronomers, according to NASA.
Unlike the orange-red Blood Moons that change color due to total lunar eclipses, the moniker “Pink Moon” has nothing to do with the satellite’s color, the Almanac wrote. April’s full moon gets its name from the early springtime blooms of one particular wildflower from eastern North America called the creeping phlox or moss phlox. This moss also goes by the name “moss pink.”
Like the unique names of many full moons, its origins are centered in Indigenous, European and colonial American histories and traditions, the Almanac reported. The Dakota nation call this particular moon “Moon When the Streams Are Again Navigable,” referring to the melting of the ice and the arrival of spring. The Anishnaabe people call it the Sucker Moon, when the harvest sucker fish return to streams or lake shallows to spawn.
