You may have noticed over the last couple of evenings that the moon is very bright and very large this will be the biggest Supermoon of the year so far, shining big and bright in the night sky. 

On 8th April the full moon will be closest to the Earth — 221,772 miles (356,907 kilometers) away — and the Earth, moon and sun will all align.  This means that when a the moon is closest to the earth it will look larger and brighter than usual. 

This is called a Supermoon and this particular Supermoon is nicknamed the "Super Pink Moon." 

Now, unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the moon will actually be pink. This Supermoon got its name because the April full moon often corresponds with the blooming of pink flowers in eastern North America.

Some fun facts about the moon!

• The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. A natural satellite is a space body that orbits a planet, a planet like object or an asteroid.

• It is the fifth largest moon in the Solar System.

• The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 miles).

• The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.

• Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4,700 metres tall, just over half the height of Mount Everest (8,848m).

• The Moon rotates on its axis in around the same length of time it takes to orbit the Earth. This means that from Earth we only ever see around 60% of its surface (50% at any one time).

• The side that we can see from Earth is called the near side while the other side is called the far side (it is sometimes called the dark side despite the fact that it illuminated by the Sun just as much as the near side).

• The effect of gravity is only about one fifth (17%) as strong on the surface of the Moon compared to the strength of gravity on the surface of the Earth.

• The Soviet Union’s Luna program featured the first successful landing of an unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the Moon in 1966.

• The USA’s NASA Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was the first manned Moon landing.

• The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.

• The far side of the Moon looks quite different due to its lack of maria (ancient pools of solidified lava).

• The surface of the Moon features a huge number of impact craters from comets and asteroids that have collided with the surface over time. Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere or weather these craters remain well preserved.

• Although research is continuing, most scientists agree that the Moon features small amounts of water.

• The Moon is very hot during the day but very cold at night. The average surface temperature of the Moon is 107 degrees Celsius during the day and -153 degrees Celsius at night.

• The Earth’s tides are largely caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.

• The phases of the Moon are: New Moon, Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Crescent, New Moon….

• A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.

Mrs. Smith took a photograph through her big camera last night and this is what she saw....it looks like an eyeball!