Moon gazers be ready! April’s full moon, known as the Pink Moon, is set to premiere on Friday, April 19.
The moon will appear larger than average because it will be three days past perigee, the point in its orbit when it is nearest to Earth, according to Space.com.
Pink full moon at 7:12pm. Taken with my Nikon D5500 70-300mm pic.twitter.com/uP0hwYYVOY
— ???????????????????????????? ???? (@cahmiylagasid) April 19, 2019
Although the name suggests the moon will appear a certain color, that is not true.
Instead, the moon is named pink after the color of wild ground phlox, one of the early spring flowers. Native Americans named the moons so they could keep track of their harvesting schedule.
Waaaaah???? I can see the #PinkMoon from my bed! pic.twitter.com/2Mu1AYWHTt
— the Human Snorlax???? (@_k__dot) April 19, 2019
The moon might appear red or orange because of dust, haze, smoke or ash in the atmosphere.
The next full moon will be the Flower Moon on May 18.
pink moon as of tonight!!! ????
???? canon eos m5 pic.twitter.com/9DVQZhS82w— antoniette (@supitstonyet) April 19, 2019
Do Full Moons Really Affect Our Behavior?
Traditional Western folklore often associates insane behavior with full moons dating back to ancient times. The terms “lunacy” and “lunatic” stem from the Latin word for moon: Luna. There may be more to it than just myths and legends; scientific studies have corroborated such beliefs.
THE PINK MOON SAYS STREAM PERSONA!!!!#PinkMoon #PinkWithLuv pic.twitter.com/blzotevqDk
— 박지민 (@promindipity) April 19, 2019
A study by the Criminal Justice Service concluded that the Moon does not cause crime or madness, “but it is accurately indicated that the repression of the moon’s gravitational influence brings about social tension, disharmony, and bizarre results.” Another study looked at Florida police records and found an increase in the number of assault and murder cases around full moons.
Epoch Times reporter Michael Wing contributed to this report.
