April's full moon — also known as the 'pink moon' — is almost upon us. It will also appear as what is known as a micromoon.
So what will stargazers and night owls scanning the skies see when the pink micromoon arrives?
What is a micromoon?
Matt Woods from Perth Observatory explained: "A micromoon is when it's at its furthest point to the Earth and it is either a new moon or a full moon".
This means it will appear about 6 per cent smaller than the average moon or about 13 per cent smaller than a supermoon, such as the one seen in November.
When do 'pink' micromoons occur?
Woods said there are about two or three micromoons each year and the April full moon is known as a pink moon — even though it's not pink.
The moon that appears at the start of the northern hemisphere's spring was named the pink moon by farmers in that part of the world because it occurred around the same time a pink wildflower, the creeping phlox, bloomed.
Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, said the moon known as the pink moon would generally be a micromoon about every three years or so.
"The way the moon works, you usually get micromoons or supermoons, fairly succinctly, so in fact the next full moons are all micromoons," he said.
Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory said images of pinkish-coloured moons were not generally the result of a natural phenomenon but rather the result of either pollution or photo editing. Source: Getty / Bill Stefanis
Moon names
The pink moon moniker was believed to be first listed in the Farmer's Almanac, and the name has caught on.
It is also commonly called the paschal moon, coming from the Greek word relating to Easter or Passover, as the date of Easter is aligned with its appearance.
"Because it happens into Sunday [13 April, this year] that has set the date of Easter to be the next Sunday," Tucker said.
Other names for it include the egg moon or grass moon.
It is believed to be known as the fish moon in some coastal locations due to particular fish spawning seasons that happen at the same time.
How to get the best view of the pink micromoon
The full moon will occur on Sunday 13 April. It will reach its peak fullness at 10.22am AEST, although it will look brightest and fullest during the night.
Depending on local cloud coverage, the moon will be visible in its most micro state that same night.
Woods encouraged people to check out the moon.
"It's free — you don't have to go anywhere, you can just literally go out front or back door and you can have a look at it. You don't have to go to a dark sky location. You don't have to buy binoculars," he said.
Woods said sharing the experience with children could be a great learning experience.
"You never know you might set your kid up for wanting to do physics," he said.
'Coloured' moons
Woods said that while different conditions could make for an orange moon, images of pinkish-coloured moons were not generally the result of a natural phenomenon but rather the result of either pollution or photo editing.
