Pink supermoon glows over the UAE

The supermoon is visible in the Emirates until April 29

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A pink supermoon will be visible in the night skies of the UAE until April 29.

The stunning astronomical event first became visible on April 27, appearing 7 per cent bigger and 14 per cent brighter than a regular full moon.

The rare occurrence was photographed around the world.

"In the month of April, there is a full moon that will be a supermoon. It won't be the biggest one, but it is close to the Earth, so it will be clearly observable," said Hasan Al Hariri, chief executive of Dubai Astronomy Group.

"The Moon also marks the middle of the Ramadan month."

While, the phenomenon is called a pink supermoon, the colour does not have much relation to the event.

It was given that name in the 1930s because the "pink moon" appears in springtime when flowers are in bloom.

"In the 1930s, the Maine Farmer's Almanac began publishing American Indian Moon names for the months of the year," said US space agency Nasa.

“According to this almanac, as the full moon is 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.”

"There is nothing that will turn pink," Mr Al Hariri said.

"There are moons that have been named as the 'blood moon', 'worm moon' or 'war moon' – there are plenty of names.

"In our region, Arabs used to give names to the Moon according to the position of the Moon."

The next and last supermoon of the year will appear on May 26 and will be closer to the Earth than this one.