Super Pink Moon - 27th April, 2021 : A Celestial Spectacle, a Repeat from Last Year.

The second wave of the Covid 19 pandemic has once again impacted our science centre, which is now closed for the visitors. Last year too we had faced a similar situation in April 2020. But then taking advantage of our stay in the office quarters, we had organised a live Facebook telecast of the Super Pink Moon, which occurred last year on 7th April 2020. One year has passed but unfortunately the Covid situation continues to be quite grim with rapidly increasing numbers adding more than 300,000 numbers each day for the past couple of days. Our Centre is once again closed to the public and we now have another occurrence of the Super Pink Moon, which will appear tomorrow 27th April, 2021. We plan to go live on our Facebook page to telecast the Super Pink moon tomorrow. Therefore four of us - Jhuma, Sheetal,  Rajesh and I tried the test run this evening and I took a couple of photographs from my new Samsung Mobile phone, which my wife gifted me. The accompanying images are taken from my new camera, which was attached to the eye piece of our 8 inch Celestron Telescope through a quintessential Indian Jugad. Last year I had written a blog on the Super Pink moon which I am slightly modifying with information that also pertains to this years Super Pink Moon celestial spectacle, which we will witness tomorrow. 

Like in the previous year this years Super Pink Moon too has come come in pairs of three and back to back. The Super Pink Moon, which I photographed yesterday will be at its peak tomorrow - 27th April, 2021, night and this will be the second in the trilogy of the super moons this year, the first of which appeared on 28th March and was called the Worm Moon and the third in this series again will be a super moon that is called as the Flower Moon, which will be appearing on the the 26th May. Tomorrow’s Super Pink Moon has a special significance for the Hindus since this Super Moon is celebrated as the Hanuman Jayanti - the celebration of the birth of Lord Hanuman, which is celebrated mostly on the full Moon day of the Hindu lunar month of Chaitra, which (in India's time zone) occurs on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. It is well known that Hanuman was an ardent devotee of Lord Ram and he like his Lord Sri Ram, continues to be worshipped across India. In that sense tomorrow’s Super Pink Moon is quite special for Indians. 

The Super Pink Full Moon, which we will be seeing tomorrow, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, will be the first of the two supermoons which will be visible during this year - 2021. Moon, the only natural satellite of our planet Earth, orbits around the Earth in an elliptical orbit and therefore the Moon sometimes comes closest to our Earth and at times remains farthest from the Earth. The closest point when the Moon comes closest to the Earth it is called the perigee, while the furthest point that the moon remains away from Earth is called the apogee. When a full moon falls on the perigee, the moon appears far bigger and brighter in the sky in comparison with other full Moons and therefore such a full moon is called as a ‘supermoon’ This phenomenon is not actually that rare as made out to be by the media. We will have another Super Moon next month on the 28th May.

Like in the previous year, tomorrow’s super moon too is occurring in the month of April and therefore this super moon is once again called ‘Super Pink Moon’. But what then is a Pink Moon? The genesis of the Pink Moon comes from the Native American names for full moons, the almanac of which was first published in the 1930s. According to the Maine Farmer's Almanac, the Pink Moon name is derived from one of the first flowers to bloom in spring; the Wild Ground Phlox, which also went by the name “moss pink.” The colour of these  flowers was given to the full moon, which occurred during the blooming season of these flowers and therefore the full moon falling in the month of April came to be known as the Pink Moon. However, it must be noted that the Pink Moon does not have anything to do with the colour of the Moon, rather in reality the Moon which you will be seeing tomorrow in no way will appear as mystical and awe inspiring as the pink colour that has been associated with the Super Pink Moon with which tomorrow’s moon is known. Since tomorrow’s full moon is happening when the moon is at its perigee it is called as the super moon and since this super moon is happening in the month of April, it is called as the ‘Super Pink Moon’, as it corresponds with the early springtime blooms of a certain wildflower native to eastern North America - Phlox Subulata - commonly called creeping phlox or moss phlox and these flowers are pink in colour and are also called “moss pink.”  Thanks to this seasonal association of the pink colours of the flowers - moss phlox flowers, the full Moon that occurs in the month of April has come to be known as the Super Pink Moon, making the name  trendy and quite appealing to youngsters and all those sky watchers and astronomy enthusiasts. 

The global Covid pandemic, which is now in its second year and so also in its second wave, has compelled us to have a diminishing attention span for any other events other than concentrating on nothing but its perceived monstrous effects, which is getting played out on every media non stop 24x7, seven days a week. Therefore it is no wonder that the ‘Super Pink Moon’ spectacle, which will occur tonight 27th April, 2021, has been hyped up by the skywatchers and planetary scientists to divert our attention from Covid 19 pandemic to the night sky so that we can observe this relatively rare celestial event, forgetting momentarily the Covid pandemic. Owing to the decreasing carbon emissions - the only silver lining among the worst things that Covid 19 Pandemic has caused, the night sky has become that much more clear and this will enable every one of us to have an excellent view of the Super Pink Moon tomorrow evening.

The term Super Moon has come into prominence since March 2011. Back in March 2011, NASA published an article describing a “ Super Full Moon” and the precise time when this ‘Full Moon in March 2011’ occurred was 59 minutes before the perigee - the Moon’s closest approach to Earth as it travels along its elliptical orbit - a near perfect coincidence that happens only every 18 years or so. This was a worthwhile observation to report in 2011. But then even today, ten years later, the ‘Super Moon’ craze has not yet died down. Tonight 27th April, 2021, the Super Pink Moon will arrive at its closest point at a distance of 3,57, 615 kilometres from Earth. Although this distance is closer than the last years Super Pink Moon, it will however not be as close as the next full Moon—the “Super Flower Moon Eclipse”—which will be the biggest and best “supermoon” of 2021, that will be seen next month on 28th May. 

Most of you must have been completely tired and fatigued watching Covid news across the media 24x7. Unfortunately most of the news are only showing gory stories of Covid impact and predicting nothing short of dooms days for us. Therefore I wish to appeal to you all  to please take time out tonight to come to your balconies or such other places, which will give you a clear site, while maintaining that physical distancing and taking all possible precautions like wearing face mask, as are advised by the Ministry of Health and WHO for the Covid conditions, for sighting the relatively rare celestial phenomenon, called the Super Pink Moon, which is also the day when Lord Hanuman was born and therefore it is also called as the Hanuman Jayanti Day.

Wishing you all a very happy Hanuman Jayanthi and a very happy moon sighting with all possible Covid precautions that are mandated. Together we can help our health workers and the local administration to combat the Covid pandemic and win over the SARS COV2 virus, which has brought us to our knees for the past more than a year. Stay Safe Stay Home. 

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