Cosmic Bloom: Don't Miss May's Spectacular Full Flower Moon
It's now or never, dear readers—the final so-called "micro" full Moon this year will be culminating tonight. The Moon will technically be furthest away from Earth today at 251,939 miles, but when viewed this evening near the horizon, our little planetary satellite will still appear larger than usual due to a human perception phenomenon called the Moon illusion. Perfect opportunity for astrophotographers, then.
Tonight's May full Moon, also popularly nicknamed the Flower Moon, reaches peak brightness at 12:56 p.m. EST, but worry not—the view should still be ideal later this evening, as long as your view is mostly unobstructed and free of thick cloud cover. After all, the Moon is expected to ascent low in the southeast at sunset and only peaking after midnight.
The reason the Flower Moon is classified as a micro-moon is because of its biggest distance from Earth, which is roughly at 251,939 miles (405,456 kilometers) versus the average 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from us, Nonetheless, at about 8:30 p.m. EST (be sure to check your local area for moon rise times), the Moon will appear larger than life especially when it's rises over the horizon thanks to "Moon illusion," a natural trick of the human mind as it perceives distance and size, not an actual change in the Moon's size.
In case you miss tonight's viewing, here's a list of full moons for the rest of the year, according to the Farmers' Almanac:
- June 11 - Strawberry Moon at 3:44 a.m.
- July 10 - Buck Moon at 4:37 p.m.
- August 9 - Sturgeon Moon at 3:55 a.m.
- September 7 - Corn Moon at 2:09 p.m
- October 6 - Harvest Moon at 11:48 p.m.
- November 5 - Beaver Moon at 8:19 a.m.
- December 4 - Cold Moon at 6:14 p.m.
The Flower Moon gets its nickname from the mark of springtime bloom, originated by the Comanche. Other tribes have referred to the May full Moon as the Snake Moon (Catawba) and the Planting Moon (Cherokee), Moreover, casual stargazers and photographers will get a nice treat during tonight's moon cycle: it will be accompanied by Jupiter and Mars in the west around moonrise, while Venus and Saturn will be visible at moonset in the east.
