We are just hours away from the first supermoon of 2021 and the weather forecast is given us hope that we in Bristol will be able to see it in all its glory.
The Pink Moon is set to shine at its biggest and brightest on Tuesday (April 27) at 4.31am but the key question is will it be obscured by cloud?
A supermoon is when the moon’s orbit brings it closest to Earth at the time of a full moon – making the space rock appear bigger in a clear sky.
The Met Office is forecasting that the recent spell of clear weather will start coming to an end on Monday into Tuesday morning, but the skies should be partly cloudy from 4am to 7am.
Of course, forecasts can change but moon watchers will hope for good weather conditions.
Anna Ross, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, told the PA news agency: “The average distance of the moon from the Earth is 384,400km, but the moon will reach its closest point this lunar month on April 27 at 16:24, when it will be 357,379 km away.
“The exact moment of the full moon closest to this point – so the supermoon – is also on April 27, but at 04:31.
“This means that the best times to view this supermoon will be anytime during the night of April 27 – when the moon will rise in the east just before sunset and set in the west around sunrise.”
During this time, the Earth’s natural satellite will still appear around 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter.
Ms Ross said: “A supermoon is the result of a full moon occurring when the moon is near its closest point to the Earth in its orbit.
“This can happen because the moon orbits the Earth on an elliptical path, rather than a circular one.
“As this means that the moon is a little closer to us, it appears slightly bigger in the sky.”
According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, Northern Native Americans call the the April full moon the Pink Moon after a species of early blooming wildflowers. In other cultures, this moon is called the fish moon, the egg moon and the sprouting grass moon.
Last month full moon, the Worm Moon was obscured by cloud in much of the South West.
But hopefully May’s full Flower Moon – also a supermoon – will be blessed by a lack of cloud when it will be at its ‘biggest’ on Wednesday, May 26 at 12.13pm.
The reason we see a supermoon is not because the moon physically grows in size. The moon’s orbit around the earth is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse.
This means at some points it is at its closest to earth (a lunar perigee) and at other times, it is at its further away (a lunar apogee).
If a full moon coincides with a lunar perigee, you get a supermoon.
Moon events in 2021
- April 27 (4.31am) Pink Moon (supermoon)
- May 26 (12.13pm) Flower Moon (supermoon)
- June 24 (7.39pm) Strawberry Moon
- July 24 (3.36am) Buck Moon
- August 22 (1.01pm) Sturgeon Moon
- September 22 (12.54am) Full Corn/Harvest Moon
- October 20 (3.56pm) Hunter's Moon
- November 19 (8.57am) Beaver Moon
- December 19 (4.35am) Cold Moon
In its forecast, the Met Office says that Monday on Bristol will see temperatures of up to 15C with sunshine up until sunset at 8.25pm.
We will then see a clear night from 9pm to midnight with partly cloudy or cloudy conditions throughout Tuesday
Of course, even before the peak supermoon time, the full moon will appear strikingly large in the night sky.
