According to space and skywatchers who study the cycle of the planet’s, citizens will be able to enjoy a full ‘pink moon’ from Thursday 21 to Friday 22. The rising will also coincide with the annual Lyrid meteor shower.
The pink moon event will begin with a moonrise in the Atlantic Ocean near the U.S. east coast around 7:30 pm.
Despite its term, the moon won’t change color
A ‘pink moon’ is actually a full moon that rises, the name comes from the Colonial Native Americans that used the term because Native Americans associated April’s full moon with pink flowers blooming in Spring.
There are other given names for the full appreciation of the moon such as full sprouting grass moon, egg moon, and full fish moon. All of the names relate to nature events that also happen in the month of April.
Today’s full moon will be pearly-gray to the majority of earth’s location, yet certain particles in other local atmosphere’s could cause the moon to gain certain colors. This happens mostly because of weather factors, forest fires, and volcanos.
Meteor shower along with the pink moon
This year’s full April moon coincides with the Lyrid meteor shower, that comes in late April, even though this year’s shower won’t be as abundant as others.
A typical meteor shower has around ten to twenty meteors an hour, according to the website Space.com, yet scientist has found showers that reported around 100 meters per hour. Scientists are expecting around 20 meteors per hour for this year’s April shower.
“Almost no one has a wide open dark sky anymore and this year there will be bright moonlight flooding the sky. It’s nature’s own light pollution that will affect the sky even if you were out in the wild,” the senior editor of Sky and Telescope, Alan MacRobert said in a statement
Skywatchers will be able to appreciate the meteor shower on Friday night.
Source: Tech Times