Flower Moon on May 13: The final micro full moon of 2025 to glow over Singapore
Skywatchers can expect to see the Flower Moon on the night of May 13. - ILLUSTRATION: PIXABAY
SINGAPORE: On Tuesday (May 13), skywatchers in Singapore can catch a glimpse of the second and final micro full moon of 2025 – the Flower Moon – weather permitting.
According to astronomy website timeanddate.com, the full moon will rise at 7.34pm on May 13 and reach its highest point at 12.56am on May 14.
For those in Singapore, the moon will be visible across the island. Open spaces like Marina Barrage, East Coast Park or the scenic Southern Ridges are said to provide the best and unblocked views of such celestial events.
This year's Flower Moon qualifies as a micromoon. A moon is seen as a micromoon when it is near the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, making it appear slightly smaller and dimmer in the night sky.
The moon orbits Earth in an elliptical path, meaning its distance from Earth changes throughout the month. When a full moon occurs at the farthest part of this path, it's called a micro full moon. Conversely, when it's at the closest point, it's known as a supermoon.
A micromoon is about 12.5 per cent to 14.1 per cent smaller than a supermoon, and 5.9 per cent to 6.9 per cent smaller than the average full moon, timeanddate.com notes.
The Flower Moon on May 13 marks the second and final micro full moon of 2025, following the first on April 13.
May's full moon is traditionally called the Flower Moon, a name that reflects the season when flowers begin to bloom across North America, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
The Cree, a North American indigenous group, have also referred to it as the Budding Moon or Leaf Budding Moon, in celebration of plant life returning after winter.
While this Flower Moon may not be as dramatic or visually striking as a supermoon, its subdued light reduces skyglow, creating ideal stargazing conditions and allowing stars to appear as though they are shining more brightly. - The Straits Times/ANN
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
6 days ago
- The Star
Implants could help treat eye condition that causes vision loss, according to new innovation
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Instead of receiving uncomfortable eye injections around once a month for a disease that can lead to blindness, patients may soon have an easier alternative. A new innovation will allow them to be treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) twice a year via an implant the size of a rice grain. Swiss healthcare firm Roche, which developed the treatment, is now conducting a study of the implant involving more than 400 participants in 16 countries, including Singapore – the only country in South-east Asia in the study and one of only three Asian countries. The study, which ends in December 2026, looks at the efficacy and safety of refilling the implant every nine months, compared with every six months. The implant has already received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Treating nAMD currently requires injections into the eye as often as once a month. Studies have noted that patients' discomfort with the treatment can lead to undertreatment of the disease. It affects the part of the eye that provides the sharp vision needed for activities such as reading and driving, and can result in rapid and severe vision loss if left untreated. The vision loss occurs when new and abnormal blood vessels grow uncontrolled under the macula – the part of the retina responsible for sharp central vision – causing swelling, bleeding and fibrosis. The condition, also known as 'wet' AMD because these new blood vessels leak fluid into the retina, is one of the leading causes of blindness in Singapore, affecting more than 125,000 people aged 40 or older. This number is expected to increase to almost 200,000 by 2040, according to a study published in Annals, the official journal of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, in 2018. Roche's innovation to treat nAMD is a refillable eye implant that continuously delivers a customised formulation of ranibizumab – a drug used to treat a number of eye conditions – over a period of several months. Also known as a port delivery system, the implant is inserted into the eye via a simple procedure and requires just two refills a year. Roche said in a statement that the implant could result in more reliable improvements in vision for people living with nAMD, reducing the risk of disease recurrence. Decreasing the need for frequent eye injections and doctor visits can also reduce the treatment burden for patients, the firm said. Singapore currently has four sites involved in the trial – the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Eye & Retina Surgeons @ Camden Medical, a private clinic. Professor Caroline Chee and Dr Yuen Yew Sen from the department of ophthalmology at National University Hospital who took part in the trial. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO Dr Yuen Yew Sen, a consultant with NUH's ophthalmology department, is among those involved in the Roche study here. He told The Straits Times only those who have recently been diagnosed with nAMD qualify for the trial, and four patients have received the implant at NUH. Once the treatment becomes available commercially – which he said could happen by 2026 – most patients should qualify for the treatment, except for those who have other eye conditions such as glaucoma. Beyond some initial minor discomfort following the surgery, patients who receive the implant are unlikely to notice it is even there, Dr Yuen said. 'Once the stitches dissolve, they don't actually feel anything,' said Dr Yuen, noting that similar implants are also used to treat conditions such as glaucoma. Such implants can also be used to treat other diseases related to the eyes, with trials looking at their use in addressing diabetic retinopathy on the cards, he said. Professor Gemmy Cheung, head of the retina research group at the Singapore Eye Research Institute, notes that nAMD presents differently in Asian populations due to the higher prevalence of a subtype known as polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). 'PCV primarily impacts the blood vessels in the layer beneath the retina, causing serious vision impairment or even vision loss if left untreated,' she said. This is of concern because PCV has historically been considered more difficult to treat, with less predictable outcomes than typical nAMD, she said. While conventional treatments are effective in most PCV cases, frequent retreatment is required, said Prof Cheung, who also heads the medical retina department of the Singapore National Eye Centre. Lapses in treatment can result in reactivation of lesions and new instances of bleeding, she added. New therapies such as the port delivery system offer a 'promising approach to providing sustained disease control' in PCV, she said, adding they can potentially reduce the burden of frequent injections and improve long-term outcomes for patients. - The Straits Times/ANN
The Star
6 days ago
- The Star
Vietnam celebrates groundbreaking of US$300mil tech hub in Hanoi
Vietnam PM Pham Minh Chinh (centre) and delegates at the groundbreaking ceremony -- Photo: VNA HANOI (Vietnam News/ANN): Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on June 1 attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hanoi CMC Creative Space (CCS Hanoi), a US$300 million technology complex hailed as a key part of Vietnam's push for innovation and digital transformation. The project, led by private firm CMC Technology & Solution, located on an 11,000 sq.m site in Hanoi, will feature 23 floors above ground and three basements, with a total floor space exceeding 90,000 sq.m. Following the success of CMC's first creative space in Ho Chi Minh City - CCS Tan Thuan, this second facility will serve as an open artificial intelligence centre, dubbed It aims to house a comprehensive tech ecosystem, including a state-of-the-art data centre, research and development labs, training facilities, and a startup incubation zone, employing over 5,000 engineers. At the heart of the complex is the CMC Data Centre, designed to deploy cutting-edge technologies in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, big data, and next-generation networks. The ecosystem will also integrate 25 core technologies developed by CMC. In his address, PM Chinh praised the project as a testament to the private sector's role in advancing Vietnam's technological ambitions, aligning with the Party's policy of making breakthroughs in sci-tech, innovation, and digital transformation. With Vietnam targeting at least 8% economic growth in 2025 and double-digit expansion thereafter, he called for national unity to drive prosperity, safeguard its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. He urged CMC to lead in sci-tech, innovation and digital transformation, inspiring other businesses, educational establishments, and research centres, particularly young people, to contribute to Vietnam's rapid and sustainable development. He expressed his hope that CMC would grow into a major multinational corporation integrated into global value chains while prioritising social welfare and equitable access to technology, especially for remote and vulnerable communities. The Government will always accompany companies, including CMC, and request ministries, agencies, and Hanoi authorities to further support them by promptly removing any obstacles to their growth, he concluded. - Vietnam News/ANN
The Star
25-05-2025
- The Star
Coral spawning muted in Singapore after 2024 mass bleaching event
SINGAPORE: Singapore's coral reefs had a muted reproductive season in 2025, not because of any oil spill that occurred in the last year, but most likely because of mass coral bleaching in 2024, one of the hottest years on record. Coral spawning was observed in April at Pulau Satumu – where Raffles Lighthouse is located – but the National Parks Board (NParks) and scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) said it was more muted than in previous years. Mass spawning events occur once a year, a spectacular underwater show in which the coral reefs appear to 'snow', as they release bundles of coral eggs and sperm. The phenomenon usually happens a few nights after the full moon following the spring equinox. The eggs and sperm then join to form larvae, which are carried by the water until some find a hard surface on which to latch on and grow. The 2025 spawning event occurred between April 15 and 19. Corals that had recovered from the bleaching in 2024 may not have had enough energy to reproduce this time, said NParks and NUS in a joint response to The Straits Times. NParks conducts annual coral spawning surveys, along with researchers from NUS' Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) and St John's Island National Marine Laboratory (SJINML). While scientists are still analysing how much more subdued this reproductive event is compared with previous years, the scale of the event was similar to the spawning in 2017, which occurred months after the 2016 mass bleaching event. NParks and NUS said it was unlikely that a series of oil spills and leaks since June 2024 had contributed to the reduced spawning. None of the spills reached Pulau Satumu, which has one of the highest coral cover in all of Singapore's reefs, said local marine biologists. More frequent coral bleaching is a symptom of climate change leading to warming oceans. Higher sea temperatures stress coral reefs, forcing them to expel the algae that give them their vibrant colours. This causes corals to turn a ghostly white. Past mass bleaching events, including in 2024 and 2016, have also coincided with the El Nino climate phenomenon, which causes sea surface temperatures to rise and elevate global temperatures. From January 2023 to March 2025, bleaching-level heat stress impacted 84 per cent of the world's reefs, said the International Coral Reef Initiative in April, adding that this global event has been the most intense on record. This was the fourth global bleaching event, with previous ones occurring in 1998, 2010 and 2016. In those years, the Republic's reefs were also affected. Bleached corals off Kusu Island in a photo taken in early June 2024. - Photo: Lionel Ng Singapore's corals, which were gripped by a mass bleaching event between May and October 2024, have mostly recovered, with an estimated 5 per cent of corals left dead after the incident, The Straits Times reported in April. The extent of bleaching and mortalities are observed through reef surveys by scientists, commonly done in the Southern Islands. The peak of this bleaching event was in July, with about 44 per cent of coral colonies surveyed reported to have been bleached. By December 2024, the level of bleaching in Singapore's waters had dropped to 10 to 15 per cent, said Dr Karenne Tun, group director of NParks' National Biodiversity Centre. One group of corals that had recovered from bleaching in 2024 but still had subdued spawning was the Platygyra, a genus of stony corals such as brain corals. 'This (group) has shown consistent and robust spawning in previous years with no thermal stress events, but only a handful of individuals was observed to spawn in 2025 over the four nights,' said Dr Tun. Most of Singapore's remaining intact coral reefs are found in the Southern Islands, which include Pulau Satumu. Reefs act as an underwater rainforest, sustaining life for fishes, sea sponges, rare seahorses, and other marine life. NUS TMSI research fellow Lionel Ng noted that muted spawning after mass bleaching events could become an 'increasingly frequent reality with climate change'. 'This poses challenges to how reefs may be replenished with new genetic material and continue to provide key ecological functions,' added Dr Ng. Subdued spawning will have implications for habitat restoration efforts because it reduces the chances of successful fertilisation and establishment of new coral colonies. Pink globes of egg and sperm attached to a coral colony. - Photo: Jonas Khaw Marine biologists will have to devise new strategies and continue to innovate to ensure the survival of this marine habitat, he noted. It may be worth assessing if other marine life dwelling at the bottom of the sea can also be tapped to help with the rehabilitation of degraded reefs, added Dr Ng. Not all is lost, however. History has shown that spawning can improve a few years after a mass bleaching event. Dr Tun noted that while spawning was muted in 2017, it improved significantly in 2018 and 2019. 'Thus, we are hopeful that the corals will recover to full fecundity within the next two years if our reefs are not subjected to any further thermal or other stressors,' she added. - The Straits Times/ANN
