Glorious ‘pink supermoon’ illuminates the night sky

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Glorious ‘pink supermoon’ illuminates the night skyNorthborough – After a beautiful clear day, the conditions were ripe this evening for a spectacular “pink supermoon,” as evidenced by this great photo taken by CA Photographer Cheryl Arsenault.

A “Pink supermoon” is not actually pink. Rather it refers to the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, whose pinkish flowers are among spring’s earliest flowers in the eastern United States.

According to www.space.com, a supermoon is a full moon that appears slightly larger than average. The smaller distance between Earth and the full moon makes the supermoon appear about 7 percent larger than the average full moon and 14 percent larger than a full moon at apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth — also known as a “minimoon.” A supermoon also appears up to 30 percent brighter than a full moon at apogee.

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