Pink Moon

April's full moon, the Pink Moon, reaches peak illumination on Tuesday, April 20, 2027, at 6:27 p.m. EDT (22:27 UTC). To the naked eye, the Moon looks full for about a day on either side of the peak. That makes the evenings of April 19 and April 20 the best nights to watch it rise.

Quick facts

Peak time by US time zone

The Moon is exactly full at one instant worldwide. Only the clock reading changes.

Times are calculated with the open-source astronomy-engine library. Other published sources may differ by about a minute because of rounding.

Is it a supermoon?

No. At full phase the Moon is about 383,421 km from Earth (center to center), not close enough to perigee (369,994 km) to qualify under the common definitions.

Best viewing tips

Watch the moonrise. In New York City, the Moon rises at about 6:40 p.m. on April 19 (sunset 7:39 p.m.) and at about 7:50 p.m. on April 20 (sunset 7:40 p.m.). Times for your city will differ, so check the Moonlix moonrise page for your location.

Find a clear eastern horizon. Near the horizon, the full moon often looks orange and unusually large. The color comes from Earth's atmosphere filtering out blue light. The size is the well-known Moon illusion, a trick of perception rather than a real change.

Where it sits in the sky. At its highest, this full moon is low in the sky for mid-northern US latitudes. Spring evenings are getting milder, which makes April a comfortable month for a moonrise walk. The full moon is now lower in the sky than in winter.

Binoculars and cameras. Ordinary 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars show the dark lunar seas and the bright rays around the crater Tycho. For photos, use a tripod and a telephoto lens, shoot during blue hour just after sunset, and expose for the Moon. A good starting point is ISO 100, f/8 and 1/250 s.

Name origin and folklore

The Moon does not turn pink. The name comes from wild ground phlox (moss phlox), one of the earliest widespread wildflowers of spring in eastern North America. In Christian tradition, the first full moon on or after the March equinox is also used to set the date of Easter, so an April full moon is sometimes called the Paschal Moon.

Other names recorded for this month's full moon include Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon. Most full moon names popular in the US today were spread by the Old Farmer's Almanac and the Farmers' Almanac. Native nations had their own names, which varied by region and language, so no single list is "official."

What else is in the sky

The main meteor shower this month is the Lyrids (around April 22). Check the Moon's phase on the peak night, because bright moonlight hides fainter meteors. Use the April 2027 moon calendar to see every phase, and the daily moon phase pages for illumination on any date.