April Skywatching

April 1: Pink Moon

This month’s Full Moon names from various sources, including Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions. Traditionally, these names refer not just to the Full Moon but to the entire lunar month in which it occurs.  While the name “Pink Moon” might suggest a rosy-colored Moon, the reality is a bit less magical. The name comes from the early spring bloom of a wildflower native to eastern North America: Phlox subulata, commonly known as creeping phlox or moss phlox. This flower, often called “moss pink,” was in full bloom around April’s Full Moon.

This Full Moon has religious significance as well.  In Christianity, it’s known as the Lenten Moon if it’s the last Full Moon of winter (before the spring equinox) or the Paschal Full Moon if it’s the first ecclesiastical full Moon of spring (after the equinox).

Image courtesy of Old Farmer's Almanac

April 4: Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

C/2026 A1 (MAPS) is a Kreutz sungrazer, a family of comets with perihelion distances extremely close to the Sun's surface. Comet Ikeya–Seki, the Great Comet of 1965, was also part of this family and there are hopes that C/2026 A1 (MAPS) might become exceptionally bright around its perihelion date.  At that moment, the comet will pass just 99,000 miles (159,300 km) from the solar photosphere. Since it will be passing through the sun's intensely hot corona, where temperatures can reach about 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius), there is a possibility that the comet may not survive, likely being either completely consumed by the extreme heat or torn apart by the sun's massive gravitational tidal forces.

Image courtesy of NASA