Pink Supermoon Illuminates Night’s Sky Over Stonehedge

The full pink supermoon set behind Stonehenge on Monday in Amesbury, England.

The pink supermoon reached its peak size in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Supermoons are full moons that appear bigger in the sky than usual. A supermoon can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is at its farthest from Earth because supermoons coincide with the moon’s arrival at perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit.

Monday night’s moon was about 222,064 miles (357,378 kilometers) away from Earth, which is 8% closer than the distance of an average full moon.

The “pink” part of the moon is related to the herb pink moss, also known as creeping phlox, moss phlox or mountain phlox, which is one of the earliest spring flowers appearing in the United States.

This moon will be visible for three days (Monday through Wednesday). It is the first of only two supermoons in 2021.