Final Supermoon of 2020 is visible for FINAL night today – when to spot rare ‘Flower Moon’
If you missed the Supermoon last night then don’t worry as tonight the Moon should still look very impressive.
Although the Supermoon technically peaked this morning, Nasa has assured stargazers that the Moon will look full until Friday morning.
The US space agency explained: “The next full Moon will be on Thursday morning, May 7, 2020, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 6:45am EDT.
“The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning.”
This means if you spot the Moon between this evening and the early hours of tomorrow you should be in for a celestial treat.
May’s full Moon is referred to as the Flower Moon and it also happens to be Supermoon due to its close proximity to Earth.
The Full Moon will rise in the north-east around sunset.
It’s called the Flower Moon because it signifies spring.
Nasa explains: “Going by the seasons, as the second full Moon of spring, the Native American tribes of the northeastern United States called this the Flower Moon, as flowers are abundant this time of year in most of these areas.”
Full Moons occur when the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth to the Sun.
This results in the lunar surface being fully illuminated.
A Supermoon happens when a full Moon reaches the perigee, which is the point in the orbit of the Moon when it’s closest to the Earth.
The opposite of the perigee is the apogee and when the Moon reaches this point it will look much smaller than usual.
Supermoons are said to appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual.
It wasn’t until 1979 that Richard Nolle first defined the Supermoon, which is now a widely-used term.
The astrologer explained that the phenomenon is “a new or full Moon which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit”.
Based on Nolle’s theory, the moon would have to be around 226,000 miles away from the Earth to be considered “super”.
Because of its relatively close proximity to the Earth, the celestial body’s surface appears a lot bigger when a Supermoon occurs.
The different types of moons
Here are some of the most interesting moon phases and when to see them...
A Blue Moon refers to the occasion when a full Moon appears for the second time in the same month, this is very rare and the next Blue Moon should occur on Halloween in 2020.
The Harvest Moon appears around the time of the autumnal equinox when farmers tend to do their main crop harvesting.
A Supermoon appears when it is at its closest point to Earth and therefore at its brightest, the next one will appear in September.
A Blood Moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse, the next one should happen in May 2020.
Each month of the year actually has its own special full moon phenomenon, they are as follows:
- January: Wolf Moon
- February: Snow Moon
- March: Worm Moon
- April: Pink Moon
- May: Flower Moon
- June: Strawberry Moon
- July: Buck Moon
- August: Sturgeon Moon
- September: Full Corn Moon
- October: Hunter’s Moon
- November: Beaver Moon
- December: Cold Moon.
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In other space news, the ‘world’s clearest picture of the Moon’s craters‘ has been revealed.
Nasa has a list of 22 asteroids that might hit Earth.
And, Elon Musk has plans to make his Starlink satellites “invisible to the naked eye”.
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