SACRAMENTO, Calif — This week a full moon, known as the Flower moon, will light up the night sky.
The peak will occur on Thursday morning, but the best viewing will be Wednesday night with moonrise beginning at 7:56 p.m. However, the moon will be bright and highly visible throughout the week thanks to a cloud-free forecast.
A full moon occurs when the moon is fully illuminated by the sun. The lunar phase cycle takes about 28 days to complete, so there are typically 12 full moons a year. When 13 full moons occur, the second full moon of whichever month happens to harbor two full moons is known as a blue moon.
“Every month, you'll get to a new moon or a full moon. There's only about 12 of these full moons you get a year, so it’s not too hard to give them names,” said said Dr. Alex Pettitt, assistant professor at Sacramento State University.
The Flower Moon was given that name because it is related to the high number of flowers blooming this time of year.
“Lots of cultures have a Flower Moon around May-ish time. There are many other names for it, but the popular one is Flower Moon,” said Dr. Pettitt. Other names of the May full moon include Budding Moon, Planting Moon and Hare Moon according to timeanddate.com.
However, don’t expect to see any flowers on the moon this week, just like how last month’s Pink Moon wasn’t actually pink.
The moon will be hard to miss this week, but if you want tips on how to take pictures of it, check out this NASA article.
Here are the names of the full moons that occur throughout the year:
- January: Wolf Moon
- February: Snow Moon
- March: Worm Moon
- April: Pink Moon
- May: Flower Moon
- June: Strawberry Moon
- July: Buck Moon
- August: Sturgeon Moon
- September: Harvest moon
- October: Hunter’s Moon
- November: Beaver Moon
- December: Cold Moon
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