'Pink' Full Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse Color Sky April 25

For those able to see it, April's full moon expected this Thursday will be pink.

April's full moon is traditionally called pink, as in the herb moss pink or wild ground phlox starts flowering. The pink moon is also referred to as the "Egg Moon," "Full Sprouting Grass Moon" and "Full Fish Moon."

There will also be a lunar eclipse, with people in Europe, Africa and much of Asia getting the best views, while those in North America will likely miss it altogether, as the actual instant of the full moon occurs on Thursday afternoon, April 25, when the moon is below the horizon, according to Space.com.

Astronomers, however, say there may still be a way for those in the United States to see the cosmic show: folks with telescopes may detect a slight darkening around the top part of the moon around 3:30 p.m. EDT and an even darker shadow effect around 4:07 p.m. EDT, when the eclipse is at its peak.

Starting at around 2:04 p.m. EDT, the moon will begin to touch the earth's shadow and a little over two hours later it will slide into position, directly in the middle of the planet's wake of blocked-out light.

By that point the moon will have just risen and be visible low to the east-southeast horizon, from the perspective of those in Ireland; and will set over south-central Japan in the early hours of Friday, April 26.

During the first 110 minutes of the eclipse, the moon's northern hemisphere will push gradually into the earth's partial shadow, called the penumbra.

By 3:54 p.m. EDT, the moon's northern limb will finally make contact with a much more abrupt shadow, the blackish-brown umbra, which will expand and retreat in a span of less than half an hour.

At 4:07 p.m. EDT, the partial eclipse will reach its peak at 1.48 percent as the moon's northern (upper) limb literally grazes the umbral shadow.

Anyone who glances up at the moon around that time may notice the uppermost part of the moon's face appears smudged, though that effect will likely fade substantially by around 5 p.m. EDT, with the moon appearing as normal.

The event won't officially end until moon fully moves from under the outer penumbral shadow, around 6:11 p.m. EDT.

The names of full moons, explains a piece on Space.com, can be traced to the Native American tribes of a few hundred years ago, living in what is now the northern and eastern United States.

Those tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which a full moon occurred.

European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own special names for the moons. And, since the lunar month is roughly 29.5 days in length, the dates when a full moon occurs changed from year to year.