COLUMBIA, S.C. — We saw quite a bit of cloudy weather in August that made viewing the night sky a bit tricky but the weather is looking clear going into the month of September which should make viewing the night sky a bit easier.
Starting the first week, we will see the return of the International Space Station to our night sky. The pass which occurs on Wednesday morning will be a long and bright pass of the station over the Midlands. If you miss it this time don't worry! We have plenty of morning and night passes over the next 2 weeks here in the Midlands.
The middle of the month will be great for just looking at the starts, but it isn't until we get later on in the month that we get anything of interest.
On September 26th Mercury will be visible in the morning sky during pre-dawn hours. This is also around when Venus will be the brightest of the entire year. It is so bright that it became to be known as "The Morning Star".
On the 27th, Saturn and the Moon will both be visible during the entire night. Just look towards the East and Southeast during the night.
The end of the month will feature "The Harvest Moon". This name is given to the Full Moon that occurs nearest the Fall Equinox which is on September 23rd. This Moon which is on the 29th is also known as "The Corn Moon".
Let's talk about weather conditions for this week and the upcoming month. Now that climatological Summer is over we typically start to see an increase in the amount of overcast nights we see here in the Midlands. While Winter is the clear leader when it comes to cloudy weather, the Spring and Fall are normally much better.
This thankfully won't be the case this week as almost every night will feature great night sky viewing conditions as high pressure sticks around in the South the next week or so.
If you get any videos or picture of anything in this article make sure to send them in to us via email or on social media!
