People confined to their homes due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown will be able to watch supermoon from moonrise on Tuesday, 7 April to moonset on Wednesday morning.
Supermoons occur when the moon is in the closest position to Earth and on this occasion, the moon appears brighter and bigger than average. Each month’s full moon has a different name and the one seen in April is called the ‘pink moon.’
"It will be a spectacular sight to witness as it will be (one of) the brightest and the biggest full moons of 2020, and is being widely publicised as the Pink Supermoon," MP Birla Planetarium Director Debiprasad Duari said in a statement, PTI reported.
Traditionally, the full moon in the month of April is named after certain wildflowers, called pink moss, native to eastern North America, and hence the name 'pink' refers to the pink flower that blossoms during this time and not the colour of the moon.
It is also called as egg moon and sprouting grass moon.
Further, the significance of the ‘pink moon’ varies from culture to culture. For instance, in the Hindu calendar, it is related to Hanuman Jayanti which is occasion to celebrate the birth of Lord Hanuman. While in months in the Chinese calendar change with the new moon in the middle of lunar months, lie the full moons.
Twitter Gazes at Supermoon
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)