Super Pink Moon: Incredible images show huge supermoon as it lights up night skies in rare celestial event

1/21

Stargazers have been treated to a spectacular pink supermoon that lit up night skies across the world.

April’s Pink Moon is the biggest and brightest full moon of the year so far and the first following the Spring Equinox.

Incredible images captured the phenomenon on Tuesday night before its peak in the early hours of Wednesday.

The celestial event was visible in the UK from about 6.55pm but the best views came after nightfall.

The huge moon dwarfed UK landmarks such as the Shard in London, Windsor Castle and the Angel of the North.

It was visible all over the globe, with photographers capturing it rising over the skies in European cities such as Venice and Vienna.

Supermoons are so-called because they appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a normal moon.

Rising in the east, they can be seen without specialist equipment.

The name Pink Moon derives not from its colour, but instead from the Native American practice of naming full moons to keep track of time.

The pink supermoon seen rising over the city of Venice in Italy as the sun begins to set on Tuesday night (REUTERS)
Reuters

April's supermoon is named after wild ground phlox flowers, which bloom in the early spring across North America.

This moon also marks the start of festivals and holidays around the world.

In some other cultures, the pink moon is known as the sprouting grass moon, the egg moon, and the fish moon.

As this will also be a supermoon, people can expect it to look up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter in the sky as it reaches its closest point to Earth, known as its perigee.

This supermoon is the third of the year, following the worm moon on March 9.

The next full moon is referred to as the Flower Moon, which takes place on May 7.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in