Residents of the Lower Mainland were treated to a dazzling lunar display last night as a supermoon illuminated crystal clear skies.
According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, "The May full Moon marked a time of increasing fertility, with temperatures warm enough for safely bearing young, a near end to late frosts, and plants in bloom." They note that Native peoples would give distinctive names to each reoccurring full moon to mark the change of seasons. As such, many of these names arose when Native Americans first interacted with colonialists.
The May full moon is also known as the Mother’s Moon, Milk Moon, and Corn Planting Moon.
Since the flower moon qualified as a 'supermoon,' it appeared a whopping 15 per cent brighter and seven per cent bigger than a regular full moon due to its proximity to earth.
EarthSky notes that astronomers usually refer to 'supermoons' as perigean full moons – a term that simply refers to the moon being ‘near earth.’ With this in mind, May's supermoon was the smallest of the three supermoons this year.
Have a look at some of the best shots of last night's brilliant supermoon.
The last Super Moon of 2020. It rose so fast all my camera could capture was motion blurrrrr.
— Stevie Froese (@StephanieFroese) May 8, 2020
Taken from the shores of Campbell River, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. #discovercampbellriver #hellobc #ZenSeekers @ZenSeekers pic.twitter.com/HjZTEXgUVw
Super Flower Moon- last Supermoon of 2020! pic.twitter.com/ukxFmXr6cK
— Felisa lau (@FelisaLau) May 8, 2020
Beautiful night sky with a stunning full moon tonight 🌚 View from #RichmondBC (pic taken at 10:30pm) #Canada #moon #supermoon #fullmoon #beautiful #Moonlight #SpringTime pic.twitter.com/4Apk0N8nJb
— Arielle B (@Arielle82) May 8, 2020
Guess what came out of the #supermoon #langley pic.twitter.com/NnHlDeTmvB
— Ted Field (@tedfieldglobal) May 8, 2020
Though art not alone! Here, look at the super moon pic.twitter.com/Wn6ru057YW
— Jade River (@jaderiverdesign) May 8, 2020
Amazing full moon coming up over Mount Baker, from Downtown Vancouver tonight#moon #FullMoon pic.twitter.com/GVSR3dTD4K
— Omar A.R. (@omarcanuck) May 8, 2020
Tonight , the moon is super bright !! It hurts my eyes :) #moon #supermoon #tonight #night #funnight pic.twitter.com/Wjdeqc3vt4
— Pino (@chinopinochan) May 7, 2020
Stargazers should opt to travel as far away from city lights as possible in order to avoid light pollution that will obscure the clarity of heavenly bodies. While this works best the in more remote places, anywhere that has a higher elevation will also provide more ideal viewing conditions.
