COLUMBIA, S.C. — April featured a lot of clear weather which meant plenty of good opportunities to look at the night sky in the Midlands. Hopefully, the good weather sticks around as we go into the month of May because we have some really exciting things to view including a total lunar eclipse and several planetary conjunctions coming up!
Before we go into what to look at, we like to highlight some of the pictures from our nighttime WLTX Weather Watchers. Thanks again to everyone who sends things into us! This month featured plenty of pictures of the full moon from the middle of the month.
As we close out the month of April, we continue to see plenty of planets in the morning sky. The last day of the month we are in for a treat!
APRIL 30
The planets Jupiter and Venus will be in conjunction on this day. This means that they will appear right next to each other in the morning sky. The closest separation will be within .25° which is quite close! To view the conjunction look towards the east-southeast around an hour or so before sunrise.
May 15-16
This is going to be the main event for the month; a total lunar eclipse! Starting the night of May 15th, the moon is expected to travel into the Earth's shadow turning it a deep red. This event also referred to as a "Blood Moon" will be visible for an hour and a half here across the Midlands! The total eclipse (including penumbral eclipse lasts much longer). As for when I would start watching the eclipse? I'd recommend getting outside for the start of the partial eclipse right around 10:30PM on May 15th.
May 24
Once again in the morning sky, we will see some planets and the moon hanging around to the east-southeast. Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon will all be visible! If you have a good telescope you might be able to see Neptune as well!
May 29
We end out the month with another planetary conjunction over the Midlands! Jupiter and Mars will be in the sky on both the 29th and the 30th. All you have to do is look to the southeast in the morning about an hour before sunrise to see the two planets!
SKYWATCH FORECAST
For the next week, viewing conditions for the night sky look to be alright. Clear conditions continue for the next two days before some clouds move back into the area. Towards next week, cloud cover looks to get into the way of things just a little bit more.
