The Flower Moon will be bright this Thursday morning.
The last of four full supermoons of 2020 will peak Thursday morning at 6:45 a.m., so check it out if you’re up.
It will appear slightly larger and brighter than usual, and will appear full through Friday morning. It was impressively bright Wednesday night.
According to NASA, the Old Farmer’s Almanac first published Indian names for the full Moons in the 1930s. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in May and the second full Moon of spring, the Algonquin Indians called this the Flower Moon, for the flowers that are abundant this time of year.
The term “supermoon” was coined by the astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and refers to either a new or full Moon that occurs within 90 percent of perigee, its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. Under this definition, in a typical year there can be three or four full supermoons in a row and three or four new supermoons in a row. For 2020, the four full Moons from February through May meet this 90 percent threshold.
The next supermoon, the “Strawberry Moon”, will appear June 5 at 3:12 p.m.
