The full moon has inspired everything from religious holidays to horror movies and outlandish doomsday conspiracy theories.
And the April sphere will culminate tonight, and UK stargazers are hoping the brighter weather lasts long enough to see clearly.
Each lunar cycle is just over 29.5 days long, which means that every month the full moon falls on a slightly different date – then watch the next one if you have a good overview.
When will the full moon peak in April 2023?
The next full moon actually climaxes Thursday 6.4according to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich – anyway highest at 05:34 UK time .
As a result, the Moon will be at its best tonight and peak just before sunrise on Thursday.
Here are the dates and times for the remaining full moons this year:
- January 6 (23:07)
- February 5 (18:28)
- March 7 (12:40)
- April 6 (5:34)
- May 5 (18:34)
- June 4 (04:41)
- July 3 (12:38)
- August 1 (19:31)
- August 31 (02:35)
- September 29 (10:57)
- October 28 (21:24)
- November 27 (09:16)
- December 27 (00:33)
What is the latest weather forecast for the UK?
According to the Met Office, the UK weather forecast for Wednesday night is as follows: “In the early evening, clouds and rain will slowly narrow in the eastern part of Britain during the night.
This is followed by clear skies, but with light rain, sometimes heavy, especially in the west. Softer than last night.
Unfortunately for stargazers around 5am, when the full moon is at its peak, the weatherman’s forecast is rather bleak.
Heavy rain is predicted over much of the UK, especially in the east, with scattered fog elsewhere, with only southwest England currently forecast to have clear weather.
Why do some call it the “pink moon”?
According to the American, the full moon in April is known in some regions as the “Pink Moon”. Peasant almanacwhich has become the gold standard for such questions.
According to the publication, the name does not refer to the color of the orb, but “the reality is not all that mystical or impressive.”
It explains: “The full moon in April often coincided with the early spring bloom of a particular wildflower native to eastern North America: subulata phlox, commonly called creeping phlox or moss phlox, which is also called “pink moss.” “
These lunar names and their supposed meanings have gained currency in recent years, with the designations usually attributed to Indian tribes.
The Farmer’s Almanac first published a list of lunar names in the 1930s:
- January: Wolf Moon
- February: snow moon
- March: Half moon
- April: pink moon
- May: flower moon
- June: Strawberry Moon
- July: Buck Moon
- August: sturgeon moon
- September: Harvest Moon
- October: Hunter’s Moon
- November: beaver moon
- December: cold moon
They seem to have become more popular since the 2014 lunar eclipse – a phenomenon commonly known as the “blood moon” because it gives the moon a reddish tint – sparked interest in such romanticized names.
According to Laura Redish, director and co-founder of Native Languages of the Americas, there is no standardized Native American calendar, although NASA claims that these names originated from the Algonquian tribe, which is part of a larger cultural language group called the Algonquian. .
According to a list published by the Council of Tribes of the Algonquian Nation in 2005, some of the common names such as “Strawberry Moon” and “Harvest Moon” appear to be Algonquian.
Others, such as the “wolf moon”, are not – the tribe apparently referred to January as “the long lunar month”.
Different tribes used different calendars, Ms. Redish said, and a number of calendars appear to have been searched for common names, while some of the popular nicknames are essentially inventions.
Peasant almanac says the names “come from a variety of places, including Native American, colonial American, and European sources.”
Source: I News
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