A full flower moon will take to the night skies this week. Here’s how to see it

A full flower moon is in the sky this week. But what does that mean?

A full moon becomes a full flower moon when it occurs in May. According to NASA , such a moon can also be called the corn or corn planting moon.

All these names refer to what’s happening in the world — farmers are planting corn, flowers are blooming — when the moon rises in the sky.

What is a full flower moon?

A full flower moon is another name for the full moon that occurs in the month of May, according to CNN .

The full flower moon has a special history, per the Farmer’s Almanac . The name is ascribed to the Algonquin peoples, and Henry David Thoreau spoke of the flower moon when he wrote about Native American groups.

According to NASA , the old English name for the full flower moon is the milk moon. “In 703 AD the English monk St. Bede the Venerable wrote that what we now call May was the ‘Three-Milkings Month,’ apparently because this was the month when cows could be milked three times a day,” the article said.

The moon also plays a role in the film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” according to CNN. The movie, which is based on a true story, tells the story of a series of murders involving the Osage people that began in May 1921, the same month as the full flower moon.

Where can I see the full flower moon?

According to NASA , “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.”

The next full moon will be June 21, and it will be known as the Strawberry moon, per CNN. The summer solstice will happen on June 20.