Super pink moon thrills skywatchers

What is a supermoon?

Everything you need to know about the celestial event.

Skywatchers have been enjoying the super pink moon, the largest supermoon of 2020.

The pink moon, or April full moon, is the closest supermoon of the year, which means that it is the largest, according to EarthSky.

WHAT IS A SUPERMOON?

A super moon, also called the pink moon in April, rises over the city during the coronavirus lockdown on April 7 2020 in Viareggio, Italy. (Photo by Maria Moratti/Getty Images)

Supermoons happen when the moon’s elliptical orbit brings it to the closest point to the Earth while the moon is full. The phrase was coined in 1979, according to NASA.

From Italy and the U.K. to the U.S., photographers across the globe captured stunning photos of the super pink moon.

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The Super Pink Moon rises behind the Empire State in New York City lit to honor COVID-19 health workers on April 7, 2020, as seen from Union City, New Jersey. (FOX News/Gary Hershorn)

The moon became full at 10:35 p.m. ET Tuesday.

The pink moon earned its name not because of its color, but because of a plant that blooms in the spring. The April full moon is known as the pink moon on account of the herb moss pink, also known as wild ground phlox, according to NASA. In the eastern U.S., the herb moss pink is one of the earliest widespread flowers of spring, the space agency explains on its website. “Other names for this moon include the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Fish Moon, as this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn,” it says.