The Flower Moon can be seen at its peak illumination today and here’s how you can catch a glimpse

You can catch a look at a full moon today as the Flower Moon takes to the skies and here’s how.

Turn off your lights, retire your disco ball and forget your flashing LEDs, because you won’t need any of those artificial lights today as the Flower Moon is coming out to party.

What is the Flower Moon?

The Flower Moon is the name given to the Full Moon in May because of the month being in spring and the title signifying ‘the flowers that bloom during this month,’ TimeandDate.com explains.

Other names come from Old English names alongside Native American tribes’ naming and include the Planting Moon, Milk Moon, Budding Moon, Laying Moon, Planting Moon and some even call it the Hare Moon.

The Moon has also been called the Corn or Corn Planting Moon. You get the gist, it happens in spring.

Prepare to try and catch a glimpse of the Flower Moon today. (Getty Images/ Onkamon Buasorn)

Why the moon might look a slightly different color

May’s full Moon is set to appear next to the bright star Antares.

While there may be little effect on the color of the Moon, some have reported it could end up appearing an orange-red color.

The Moon can also appear more red in tone when it moves into the inner part of Earth’s shadow, NASA explains, with some of the ‘sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere’ hitting the Moon’s surface and ‘lighting it dimly’.

The Moon may appear a slightly different color (Getty Images/ Passion4nature)

When is the best time to see the Flower Moon?

Well, if you do want to catch sight of the Flower Moon in all its glory, the full Moon will be able to be spotted in the sky at peak illumination this morning (May 23) at 9.53am EDT, according to the moon-lords themselves AKA NASA.

However, NASA adds: “The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday night through early Friday evening.

“Thursday night the bright star Antares will appear so close to the Moon that for the Washington, DC area, the Moon will pass in front of Antares, blocking it from view, although the brightness of the full Moon will make it difficult to see the star vanish behind the Moon.”

If you’re based in Oceania, ‘this will be Friday morning from the Lord Howe Island time zone (just east of Australia) eastward across New Zealand and the Pacific to the International Date Line’.

And don’t fret if you miss catching a glimpse of the moon this morning, because by this evening, as twilight ends at 9:30pm EDT, ‘the rising Moon will be four degrees above the southeastern horizon with the bright star Antares just off the edge of the Moon’ and if not, there’s another full moon in June.

So get your celestial gear and glasses out, it’s time to go moon-gazing.