April's Pink Supermoon At Its Fullest Monday Night; Boston Will Have 'Stunning View'
BOSTON (CBS/CNN) -- April's full moon is the "pink" moon, and it's a supermoon, too. Catch it in the night sky this Monday.
This moon will be at its fullest on Monday at 11:32 p.m. ET, according to NASA. And Boston should have a stunning view.
"With clear skies continuing overnight, whether it's this evening or tomorrow morning, we're going to have a brilliant scene on tap," WBZ Meteorologist Zack Green said.
Supermoons appear bigger and brighter in the sky because they are slightly closer to Earth. Interpretations of what qualifies as a supermoon can vary, but there are generally two to four moons that meet the threshold -- based on the distance between the moon and Earth -- within a given year.
Under some definitions, April's will be one of four supermoons in a row, including last month's "worm" moon and two more expected in May and June. According to NASA, all publications agree that at least the April and May moons fit the classification.
This supermoon will be the second-closest full moon of the year, according to EarthSky. And although it's called the pink moon, it's not really a different color.
This moon gets its name from the pink early springtime blooms of the Phlox subulata plant, also called "moss pink." It's native to eastern North America.
Native American tribes across the United States have their own names for the moon, according to the Western Washington University Planetarium. Many of those names are also associated with springtime signs, including the melting of snow and the return of geese after their journey south for winter. The Cherokee tribe of the East Coast calls it the "kawohni" or "flower moon," and the Creek tribe of the Southeast refers to it as "tasahcee-rakko" or "big spring moon."
There are also several religious celebrations that align with this moon, according to NASA. For Eastern Christians, this is the full moon before Easter, called the Paschal Moon. (Eastern Christianity marks Easter on Sunday, May 2). For Hindus it is Hanuman Jayanti, the celebration of the birth of Lord Hanuman. For Buddhists, it is Bak Poya, which marks the Buddha's visit to Sri Lanka to settle a dispute between chiefs, avoiding a war.
This full moon is also near the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, which Muslims observe in honor of the Quran being revealed.
Typical of a normal year, 2021 will have 12 full moons. (There were 13 full moons last year, two of which were in October.)
Here are all of the full moons remaining this year and their names, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac:
April 26 -- Pink moon
May 26 -- Flower moon
June 24 -- Strawberry moon
July 23 -- Buck moon
August 22 -- Sturgeon moon
September 20 -- Harvest moon
October 20 -- Hunter's moon
November 19 -- Beaver moon
December 18 -- Cold moon
Be sure to check for the other names of these moons as well, attributed to their respective Native American tribes.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNN's Ada Wood and Ashley Strickland contributed to this report.)
