These are tough days, days when the sun is high in the sky and everyone is eager to go outside but coronavirus has ruined our plans. Luckily, there are some amazing activities that we can do while staying at home and if you are looking for something completely different from usual advice, this article is definitely what you need!
Spring has started and it has already given us good vibes and some handsome sights. We can feel that spring has arrived every day. Days are longer and in the afternoon we can enjoy a warm lovely sun. Some animals emerge from their hibernation and others return from their migration. There are new leaves and flowers on trees: for example in Japan the first pink cherry blossoms, which bloomed on the trees and painted streets, have surprised people since March. Crowds celebrated this event with parties and picnics under the branches, walking on the streets covered by the pink petals. But petals are not the only pink thing that spring offers: also the first year’s supermoon is going to be pink!
Actually, the moon’s name is not associated with the moon’s colour, but with flowers: it comes from phlox, an adorable pink flower that you can find everywhere in the early spring. Although, unfortunately, the full moon will not turn pastel pink, it will certainly be spectacular.
This supermoon has various names: it is also called Egg Moon because spring is the season of egg-laying. One of its other names is Fish Moon because during these days tribes noticed that fishes started to swim upstream.
But there are so many ways to call this moon and one article would not be enough to say them all. Every moon has several names, that is due to the Native Americans’ method to record time: in fact their system was not based on our calendar but instead they kept track of the seasons thanks to the full moons that they could see and map. Native Americans used to give a nickname to those moons; these names were related to an activity or a special occasion. But they were not the same for everyone. All of them were adopted by Colonials when they went to America and used in their calendars. That’s why there are so many different names for the supermoons.
But what is a supermoon?
As everyone knows, we do not see the moon from the same perspective: this happens because Earth and Moon keep on moving, so they cannot always be in the same position. But during some nights the moon appears bright and full: that is a supermoon and it means that the Earth is perfectly aligned between the Moon and the Sun and that the moon is nearest than ever to our planet. This short distance creates a “moon illusion”, which makes us believe that the moon is bigger, even though it is just closer.
A supermoon usually occurs one time in 29 days, so that in one year at least twelve full moons grace our skies, but sometimes it happens that one month has a second full moon, called Blue Moon, like the Blue Moon that we will see on August 22nd .
So, if you are looking for something different to do during these days when we do not have much to be amazed by, it seems that this occasion is perfect for you.
You do not even have to go out to catch this event: you can watch it from your balcony, sitting on a comfortable chair! You just have to make sure you will look at the night sky within April 26th and April 27th and then, here you are: you can enjoy this natural show.
The Full Pink Moon is the first of the three super moons which will occur this year. So if you miss this occasion, mark your calendar for the Flower Moon on May 26th and the Strawberry Moon on June 24th.
Gaia Dallaserra, 3ACL
