Topline
The Pink Moon—the second full moon of the spring—rises Tuesday and will be visible until Thursday, though other celestial bodies like Mars, Saturn and Mercury will also be visible alongside it, for those able to see it.
Key Facts
April’s full moon will be visible on Tuesday and become the fullest at around 7:49 p.m. EDT, and continue until Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
The best way and time to view the full moon will be in an open area just before moon rise (Old Farmer’s Almanac offers a moon rise calculator to help figure that out).
Although April’s full moon is called the Pink Moon, it’s not actually pink, but instead gets its name from the pink creeping phlox (or moss phlox) flowers that bloom in North America, one of the earliest flowers to bloom during spring.
The Pink Moon is the fourth full moon of the year and the second full moon of spring, marking the first day of the Jewish holiday Passover, so it’s also known as the Passover Moon—other names include the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon and the Fish Moon, NASA says.
Key Background
There’s a full moon every month because the Moon’s cycle lasts for 29.5 days, but they don’t always fall on the same day. The moon goes through eight phases during its 29.5 day cycle: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent. When the moon enters the full moon phase, it appears as a perfect circle in the sky because the entire side of the moon that’s facing the Earth is lit up by the Sun’s rays.
Surprising Fact
The Paschal Moon—also known as the Easter Moon—is the first full moon after the spring equinox and helps to determine the date of Easter. Easter always falls on the Sunday after the Paschal Moon, which occurred on March 24 this year. So, although March’s full moon was the Paschal Moon this year, sometimes April’s full moon earns that title. The Paschal Moon will fall on April 12 at 8:22 p.m. EDT next year, which is technically 12:22 a.m. UTC—the standard time zone used to regulate all global time—on Sunday, April 13, 2025. However, if the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter will land on the following Sunday, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich, so Easter will fall on April 20, 2025.
Tangent
The full moon won’t be the only notable sight in the sky this week. Around twilight on Tuesday morning (5:18 a.m. EDT), Mars will be visible above the eastern horizon, and Saturn will be visible above the eastern to southeast horizon, according to NASA. Around 22 minutes after twilight, Mercury will rise so close to the sun that it will be faint to the naked eye. On Tuesday around 8:56 p.m EDT, Jupiter will be visible above the west to northwest horizon.
