‘Super Pink Moon’ Rises Tonight! Teach Your Kids about the Biggest Full Moon of 2020
“It will be bright and brilliant and absolutely gorgeous.”
By Chelsea Gohd

April 7, 2020 – NEW YORK | Tonight (April 7), if you look up at the night sky, you’ll see the “Super Pink Moon,” the biggest supermoon of the year, shining big and bright.

The full moon will be at perigee-syzygy, meaning it will be closest to the Earth — 221,772 miles (356,907 kilometers) away — and the Earth, moon and sun will all align. This means that when a the moon is at perigee-syzygy, it will look larger and brighter than usual. But, because perigee-syzygy isn’t that catchy, the term “supermoon” came about and this particular full moon was additionally nicknamed the “Super Pink Moon.”

These pictures of the moon by Robert Vanderbei were taken with the same equipment: When the moon is close, it appears larger than when it is farther away. A full moon at perigee is called a supermoon (right, taken on Aug. 9, 2014), at apogee, a minimoon (left, taken on Feb. 3, 2015). (Image credit: Robert Vanderbei)

Now, unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the moon will actually be pink. This supermoon got its name because the April full moon often corresponds with the blooming of pink flowers in eastern North America. Still, “It will be bright and brilliant and absolutely gorgeous,” Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City, told Space.com.

Faherty added that, while you will be able to view this “Super Pink Moon” all night long as it rises, moves across the sky and sets, it will be especially breathtaking at moonrise. The spectacle is due to an optical illusion of sorts that occurs, as the moon is rising above the horizon that makes it appear larger.

You can search your local moonrise and moonset times here.