The Full Moon on Wednesday is known as the Flower Moon. It will appear larger than usual as it is the second Supermoon* of the year (the first being April’s Pink Moon). On average, Supermoons are about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical Full Moon.
More favourable skies on and around 26th May are expected. Rain and showers are likely to clear away to the east, leaving drier and less windy conditions so one should get a good view of the biggest and brightest Supermoon of 2021.
There is a total lunar eclipse occuring but you need to be in Australia, parts of the western USA, western South America, or in South-East Asia to see it! However, there is a partial solar eclipse which will be visible from the UK on Thursday 10th June beginning at 10.04am.
Other names attributed to this Moon full of the promise of summer are:
- Leaf Budding Moon
- Planting Moon
- Egg Laying Moon
- Field Making Moon
- Frog Moon
- Moon Of The Shedding Ponies!
*Any full Moon (or new Moon) coming closer than 224,865 miles (361,885 km), as measured from the centres of the Earth and Moon, counts as a Supermoon in 2020, according to NASA.
One cannot talk of the moon without paying respect to Michael Collins who died at the end of last month at 90 years old.
Michael Collins took part in the first manned mission to land on the Moon in 1969. He remained in the Apollo 11 craft while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon’s surface. R.I.P.
A total of twelve people have walked on the Moon. Four of them are still living as of April 2021. Buzz Aldrin, now 91 years old, is the only surviving member of the 1969 mission.
