2021’s First “Supermoon” is a Pink Moon (April 26)

The first “supermoon” of 2021 will be on Monday, April 26, and it’s also a pink moon.

In San Francisco, moonrise is set for 7:44p and moonset is 6:50am. This is typically the best time for photos since the moon will be close to the horizon so you can take photos with the moon next to mountains,  hills bridges and buildings to give you a frame of reference.

Thanks to an optical illusion in the sky, the moon will appear bigger and brighter than normal in the San Francisco Bay Area in the night, during what astronomers call a “supermoon.”

This full Moon is the first of two supermoons for 2021, with the next one occurring one month later on May 26, 2021.

Why is it called a “pink moon”? 

No, it’s not actually pink unfortunately. According to NASA, “In the 1930s the Maine Farmer’s Almanac began publishing American Indian Moon names for the months of the year. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in April, this is the Pink Moon, named after the herb moss pink, also known as creeping phlox, moss phlox, or mountain phlox. The plant is native to the eastern United States and is one of the earliest widespread flowers of spring.”