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The rare occurrence will be visible over the UK tonight
The smallest full moon of 2025 will rise tonight – here’s what time it will be visible in the UK and why it’s so special.
The Pink Moon – like the Harvest Moon in autumn – signals the changing of seasons but instead of bringing about cooler temperatures and leaves falling, tonight’s lunar spectacle is a mark of spring, flowers blooming, and trees budding.
This evening, the Moon will be nearly full and will appear to the right of the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo.
Spica is the 16th brightest star in the whole night sky, giving off around 20,500 times more light than the Sun.
The Pink Moon will rise at 7.39 pm in the UK, according to the tracking website Time and Date, before reaching its full moon phase at 1.22 am on April 13.
A full moon is too bright once it’s high in the sky to observe comfortably, so the best time to see it is as it rises or sets.
If you miss the special lunar event – or skies aren’t clear – the Pink Moon will still appear full on Sunday night.
“This is as close as we come to seeing the sun’s illumination of the entire day side of the moon (so, technically, this would be the real half moon),” NASA wrote in its moon guide. “The moon is opposite the sun, as viewed from Earth, revealing the moon’s dayside.”
Many cultures, including native Americans, named the moons to keep track of the seasons.
The Pink Moon is named after a species of early blooming wild flower in the US.
The name comes from the herb moss pink, also known as creeping phlox, moss phlox, or mountain phlox.
The ‘Pink Moon’ goes by other names, including Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon, as well as being tied to the Pesach or Passover, the Hanuman Jayanti Festival, and Bak Poya.
These names, some of which were first listed by the Maine Farmers’ Almanac in the 1930s under “Indian” titles for full moons, have gained widespread recognition and usage.
The Pink Moon is also what is known as a micromoon, when the Moon is at its farthest point from Earth – and the opposite of a supermoon.
This makes the Pink micromoon the smallest full moon of the year.
Micromoons and supermoons happen because of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth, which means it isn’t a perfect circle and is instead more egg-shaped – hence the nickname ‘Egg Moon’.
2025’s full Moon schedule
- Monday, January 13 – Wolf Moon
- Wednesday, February 12 – Snow Moon
- Friday, March 14 – Worm Moon
- Saturday, April 12 – Pink Moon
- Monday, May 12 – Flower Moon
- Wednesday, June 11 – Strawberry Moon
- Thursday, July 10 – Buck Moon
- Saturday, August 9 – Sturgeon Moon
- Sunday, September 7 – Corn Moon
- Monday, October 6 – Hunter’s Moon (Supermoon)
- Wednesday, November 5 – Beaver Moon (Supermoon)
- Thursday, December 4 – Cold Moon (Supermoon)
Published: 2025-04-12 14:44:37 | Author: [email protected] (Ryan Price) | Source: MEN – News
Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Tags: #tonights #Pink #Moon #onceinayear #lunar #event #takes #place
