Overview
- April’s full moon, known as the Pink Moon, reaches maximum illumination Wednesday at about 10:11–10:13 p.m. ET, with the UK peak at 3:12 a.m. BST on Thursday.
- For the best view, look east around sunset from a spot with a clear horizon as the low-rising moon can glow orange or copper because Earth’s atmosphere scatters bluer light.
- The event is not a supermoon, with the moon about 244,000 miles from Earth, so its apparent size is typical even though the “moon illusion” can make it seem larger near the horizon.
- As the first full moon after the spring equinox, this Paschal Moon fixes Western Easter on Sunday, April 5 under the church’s calendar rules.
- NASA’s Artemis II crewed lunar mission has an April 1–6 launch window that lines up with the Pink Moon period, with any launch most visible to viewers in Florida and southern Georgia.