A 'Pink' Supermoon Will Be Visible in New Zealand Tonight
Head out to your backyard or balcony and look up.
Been spending the first few months of 2021 pondering the future? Given how the past year has panned out, that's only natural. But tonight, on Tuesday, April 27, you might want to look to the skies as well — and feast your eyes on a luminous lunar sight.
For folks located Down Under, this is when you'll see this year's 'pink supermoon'. While super full moons aren't particularly rare — two usually happen each year — there are plenty of reasons to peer upwards this time around. If you're wondering why, we've run through the details below.
WHAT IS IT?
If you're more familiar with The Mighty Boosh's take on the moon than actual lunar terms, here's what you need to know. As we all learned back in November 2016, a supermoon is a new moon or full moon that occurs when the moon reaches the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making it particularly bright. They're not all that uncommon — and because April 2021's supermoon is a full moon (and not a new moon), it's called a super full moon.
It's also a pink moon, too, which doesn't refer to its colour but to the time of year. In the northern hemisphere, April and spring go hand-in-hand — which means the April full moon usually arrives with the onset of the year's floral blooms, and with the first flowers from the pink-hued wild ground phlox specifically.
Of course, it's currently autumn in the southern hemisphere, and the wild ground phlox are native to North America — but the name still sticks.
WHEN CAN I SEE IT?
If you're keen to catch a glimpse, you'll want to peek outside on Tuesday, April 27. While timeanddate.com notes that the super pink moon is expected to be at its peak at 3.31pm during the day today in Auckland and Wellington, it's still worth looking up for once evening hits.
If you're eager to take some pictures — and see if you can outdo previous supermoon snaps — moonrise is expected at 7.33pm NZT tonight. That's when the moon will first peek above the horizon for the evening, and it'll move higher into the sky across the night.
WHERE CAN I SEE IT?
You can take a gander from your backyard or balcony, but the standard advice regarding looking into the night sky always applies — so city-dwellers will want to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the absolute best view.
Typically, Auckland and Wellington have particularly cloudy forecasts — but Metservice predicts that conditions are set to clear in the evening. If you miss out tonight, another supermoon is due on Wednesday, May 26 — and it's called the flower moon.
Via timeanddate.com / space.com. Image: Andrew C.
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