How to see ‘pink micromoon' light up UK skies this weekend
Depending on the weather, the micromoon should be very visible from Britain on Sunday evening.
The moon should look 'bold and bright' in the night sky, Sky at Night magazine promises.
Sadly, pink moons are not actually pink.
In reality, it's more likely to be an orangey colour as the full moon rises over the horizon.
Instead, the term 'pink moon' comes from American terminology for different moons of the year.
NASA's Gordon Johnston writes, 'The Maine Farmer's Almanac first published Native American names for the full Moons in the 1930s. Over time these names have become widely known and used."
The term 'Pink Moon' comes from a spring flower, Wild Ground Phlox, also known as Moss Phlox which grows in North America, and appears at the time of April's full moon.
The full moon is linked to the date of Easter, with Easter falling on the Sunday after the full moon that appears after the spring equinox.
The rules date from the First Council of Nicaea in 325BC, with the council deciding that the moon would help pilgrims travel for Easter.
In contrast to the better-known 'supermoon', the Pink Moon this month will be a 'micromoon'.
Both supermoons and micromoons are due to the fact that the Moon's orbit is not a circle - it's elliptical.
This means that the Moon is sometimes closer to Earth and sometimes further away - a 'micromoon' occurs when a Full Moon occurs when the Earth is furthest away.
The scientific term is 'apogee moon'.
NASA says that 'micromoon' 'is a recently coined term to describe the full moon near apogee. Apogean full moon is more descriptive of 'micromoon' events but is, perhaps, more limited in time by its specification of apogee.'
On 13th April, the Pink Moon will rise at 21:08 BST.
The moon will reach its peak brightness at 1.22am BST, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Interstellar invader Comet 3I/ATLAS is packed with water ice that could be older than Earth
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A team of scientists has found the recently discovered "interstellar invader" comet 3I/ATLAS is teeming with water ice. This water could have been sealed in the comet for 7 billion years, which would make it older than the solar system itself. The team also found a mixture of organic molecules, silicates and carbon based minerals on the object, meaning 3I/ATLAS resembles asteroids found at the outskirts of the solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The team's observations, made with the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), perched upon the mountain Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph equipped on the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. Discovered on July 1 by the ATLAS survey telescope, 3I/ATLAS is just the third object astronomers have discovered passing through the solar system from outside its boundaries. The previous two interstellar bodies discovered in the solar system were the cigar-shaped 1I/'Oumuamua, seen in 2017, and the seeming asteroid/comet hybrid 2I/Borisov, detected two years later in 2019. Some scientists estimate there could be as many as 1 million interstellar visitors in the solar system at any one time. It's thought that many of these could lurk in the Oort cloud, a shell of comets located at the very edge of the solar system. The study of 3I/ATLAS and other interstellar interlopers could reveal what conditions are like in other planetary systems. "3I/ATLAS is an active comet. It clearly shows a coma and likely contains a significant amount of water ice," Bin Yang, the leader of this new research and a scientist at the Universidad Diego Portales, told "Its physical activity confirms its classification as a comet. The most exciting finding was the presence of water ice features in the coma." Comas are the nebulous envelopes of gas and dust that surround comets. This material has been expelled from within a comet's nucleus — that means analyzing it with a technique called spectroscopy can tell astronomers what the rock and ice of that comet is composed of. "We obtained visible and near-infrared spectra of 3I/ATLAS as it approached the sun," Yang said. "However, no gas emissions were detected." Yang and colleagues found that while 3I/ATLAS is undoubtedly a comet, some of its spectroscopic characteristics and its dust composition resemble D-type asteroids. These are bodies from the main asteroid belt with organic molecule-rich silicates and carbon with water ice in their interiors. "Its reflectance properties are most similar to D-type asteroids and some active comets," Yang said. "The spectrum of 3I/ATLAS can be matched by a combination of Tagish Lake meteorite material and water ice. This suggests a mixture of organics, silicates, carbonate minerals and a significant amount of water ice." This could also offer deeper insight into the evolution of the Milky Way. That's because separate research has used the trajectory of 3I/ATLAS to infer that it comes from a region of our galaxy with stars that formed around 2.5 billion years prior to our 4.6 billion-year-old sun. That gives 3I/ATLAS a prospective age of 7 billion years, which would make it the oldest comet humanity has ever seen. "If the initial water ice detection is confirmed, it could indeed represent some of the oldest and most pristine water ever observed, formed in another planetary system and preserved throughout its interstellar journey," Yang said. Related Stories: — Hubble spots interstellar invader Comet 3I/ATLAS for the first time — Astronomers say new interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS is 'very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen' — Astronauts could mine asteroids for food someday, scientists say Yang emphasized that there is yet to be a direct detection of individual compounds around 3I/ATLAS, with these results representing an inferred composition. "3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object. Observing it near perihelion [its closest approach to the sun gave us a rare opportunity to study how interstellar material behaves under solar heating, an exciting and scientifically valuable event," Yang said. "The structure of water ice carries rich information about the object's formation conditions." Yang and colleagues are now awaiting complementary data from other teams using large telescopes like the Very Large Telescope and the Keck Observatory. "Our goal is to combine these spectra to confirm the ice detection and to search for gas emissions as the object approaches the sun," Yang concluded. Clearly, 3I/ATLAS is set to keep scientists busy for years to come. A pre-peer-reviewed version of the team's research appears on the paper repository arXiv. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Launch recap: SpaceX rocket launch from Florida on Starlink mission Tuesday night
Launch recap: Scroll down to read updates from the Starlink 10-29 mission, which launched 11:37 p.m. July 29 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Original story: Those waiting for a rocket launch do not have to wait much longer − a Falcon 9 rocket is planned to lift off tonight from Florida's Space Coast. SpaceX plans to launch the Starlink 10-29 mission now at 11:37 p.m. July 29. Various factors, such as weather at the launch and booster landing locations could change timing. SpaceX states it has until 3:30 a.m. July 30 to launch during this window. Lift off will be from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket will travel on a northeast trajectory, meaning those north of the Space Coast could get great views of the bright rocket against the night sky. The mission is the latest batch of 27 SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites, which deliver internet to customers in some of the most remote areas in the world. No Space Coast sonic booms will follow the liftoff, as the rocket's first-stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral Countdown Timer SpaceX Falcon 9 booster lands Update 11:45 p.m.: The Falcon 9 first-stage booster just landed aboard SpaceX's drone ship Just Read the Instructions out on the Atlantic Ocean, completing its 26th mission. SpaceX Liftoff! Update 11:37 p.m.: SpaceX has just launched the Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40! SpaceX launch webcast begins Update 11:32 p.m.: SpaceX's launch webcast hosted on X (formerly Twitter) is now posted above, right below the countdown clock. Liftoff is scheduled in five minutes from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. We are 10 minutes from tonight's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch! Update 11:27 p.m.: T-10 minutes! Head outside if you plan on catching this launch! If you have clear skies, it will be hard to miss the bright rocket rising into the night sky. Simply look towards the direction South of Kennedy Space Center from your direction. SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral countdown timeline Update 11:17 p.m.: T- 20 minutes until tonight's launch. Here's a behind-the-scenes rundown of SpaceX's countdown timeline. T-minus: 38 minutes: SpaceX launch director verifies 'go' for propellant load. 35 minutes: Rocket-grade kerosene and first-stage liquid oxygen loading begins. 16 minutes: Second-stage liquid oxygen loading begins. 7 minutes: Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch. 1 minute: Command flight computer begins final prelaunch checks; propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins. 45 seconds: SpaceX launch director verifies 'go' for launch. 3 seconds: Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start. 0 seconds: Liftoff. SpaceX Falcon 9 fueling now underway Update 11:06 p.m.: Visual cues indicate Falcon 9 fueling procedures are now underway at Launch Complex 40, though SpaceX has yet to make an official announcement. That means tonight's Starlink mission is now locked in to lift off at 11:37 p.m. without any countdown delays, or else the launch must be postponed. SpaceX Falcon 9 booster slated to fly 26th mission Update 10:56 p.m.: Tonight's booster is flying for the 26th time. Previous missions include 21 Starlink missions, CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:37 p.m. SpaceX launch prep underway in Brevard Update 10:46 p.m.: Brevard County Emergency Management officials have activated the agency's launch operations support team ahead of SpaceX's upcoming Falcon 9 launch. SpaceX Starship launch upcoming Update 10:36 p.m.: SpaceX has announced the next planned launch of Starship out of Starbase, Texas. This launch comes after the last few missions ended in the loss of the ship before reentry. There is currently no official launch date. The uncrewed missions are aimed at pushing the design limits of Starship. Starship is aimed at becoming SpaceX's next workhorse launch system. SpaceX anticipates to eventually launch from and land at multiple Florida launch pads. Tonight's Falcon 9 launch is in just over an hour from now. SpaceX completes test fire ahead of Crew-11 launch from Florida Update 10:25 p.m.: On July 29, SpaceX completed testing of the Falcon 9 rocket which will launch NASA Crew-11 to the ISS. This test fire comes after an attempted test aborted on Monday, July 28 with less than a minute to the engine fire. SpaceX attributed the issue to the 'transporter erector's cradle arm position indication'. The transporter erector is what transports the rocket and raises it into launch position. Tonight's liftoff is still planned for 11:37 p.m. Weather outlook released for NASA Crew-11 SpaceX launch Update 10:15 p.m.: The 45th Weather Squadron has released the T-2 day weather report ahead of the planned July 31 launch of NASA's Crew-11. It is predicted launch day will see an 85% chance of favorable conditions during the time of the liftoff. The crew of four will launch to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. Liftoff is planned for 12:09 p.m. July 31. NASA celebrates anniversary Update 10:05 p.m.: On this day in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Act was signed and NASA saw its creation. NASA has been solving the mysteries of the solar system and beyond for the last 67 years. SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral weather Update 9:53 p.m.: The 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 90% chance of favorable conditions for tonight's launch, which is currently set for 11:37 p.m. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@ or on X: @brookeofstars. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Launch recap: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida Tuesday night Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
See photos: SpaceX rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on Starlink mission Tuesday night
On the night of Tuesday, July 29, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 28 Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The liftoff occurred 11:37 p.m. from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission was referred to as Starlink 10-29. The next launch is set for no earlier than 12:09 p.m. July 31 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. The Falcon 9 rocket will send NASA's Crew-11 to the International Space Station. With the booster returning to the Cape Canaveral Landing Zone, a sonic boom will be heard throughout the Space Coast area. When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@ or on X: @brookeofstars. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Photos: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch in Florida Tuesday night Solve the daily Crossword
