INDIANAPOLIS — You may have noticed the moon looking pretty full and bright lately. We're getting to our next full moon, which happens Tuesday night.
It's going to be extra special too. In fact it's called the Super Pink Moon!
A supermoon happens when a full moon occurs at the same time as the moon's closest point to Earth (aka it's perigee). At 221,773 miles, it's the closest the moon will be all year! (Thanks to EarthSky.org for that full moon fact.)
The moon won't actually look pink though. According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, that part of the name comes from the pink phlox flowers that bloom this time of year.
However, it may seem a little brighter than usual.
Supermoons are typically about 14% brighter than other full moons. Given it's close proximity to Earth, the moon actually appears about 7% larger.
That's pretty negligible for us to actually tell the difference here on the ground though.
While you should be able to catch some glimpses of the supermoon Tuesday night, clouds are likely to block some of your view across Central Indiana.
Truecast shows we're expecting mostly cloudy skies. We may even have some rain and storms Tuesday night. Fingers crossed!
