May’s full moon highlights this week up in the sky
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(WHSV) - The Full Flower Moon comes this week up in the sky along with another meteor shower peaking!
FULL FLOWER MOON
At 1:34 pm Friday, the Moon will reach its full stage for the fifth time this year. This full moon is commonly referred to as the Full Flower Moon as this is the time of the year lots of spring flowers start appearing. This full moon is also known as the Corn Planting Moon as its a common time of the year to start planting corn crops. Another name for this full moon is the Milk Moon. The best time to view this Full Moon will be Friday evening as the Moon rises in the east-southeastern sky at 8:28 pm. Cloud cover may play a factor, but there should be enough breaks in the clouds to view it at some point in the evening.
ETA AQUARIDS METEOR SHOWER PEAKS
Friday overnight, the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower will peak. This meteor shower does produce more meteors than the peak of the Lyrids Meteor Shower which was back on April 22nd. The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower at its peak time can produce up to 10-30 meteors per hour. The meteor shower however is going to be very hard to view. With the full moon, all but the brightest of meteors will be unviewable. Throw in plenty of cloud cover, and it will be very frustrating to view. To best see this meteor shower, go to a rural area that has less light pollution and look up in the sky after midnight. Meteors will originate in the east-southeastern sky but could appear anywhere up in the sky.
GAINING DAYLIGHT
This week, we will gain another 14 minutes of daylight. By May 8th, we will have 14 hours and 3 minutes of daylight and 9 hours and 57 minutes of nighttime. Sunrises will move from 6:18 am to 6:10 am while sunsets will move from 8:07 pm to 8:13 pm. Sunday May 7th we will start seeing 14 hours or more of daylight. That will continue for the next 3 months!
Daily Sunrise/Sunset Times this week:
Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
---|---|---|---|
May 1 | 6:18 am | 8:07 pm | 13 hrs, 49 mins |
May 2 | 6:17 am | 8:07 pm | 13 hrs, 50 mins |
May 3 | 6:16 am | 8:08 pm | 13 hrs, 52 mins |
May 4 | 6:15 am | 8:09 pm | 13 hrs, 54 mins |
May 5 | 6:14 am | 8:10 pm | 13 hrs, 56 mins |
May 6 | 6:13 am | 8:11 pm | 13 hrs, 58 mins |
May 7 | 6:12 am | 8:12 pm | 14 hrs, 0 mins |
ISS VIEWING (MOST VIEWABLE)
Date | Visible | Max Height | Appears | Disappears |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mon May 1, 3:55 am | 2 min | 20° | 20° above NNW | 10° above NNE |
Sun May 7, 5:32 am | 5 min | 18° | 10° above NNW | 10° above ENE |
NEXT MOON PHASES
Moon Phases | Date and Time |
---|---|
Full Moon | May 5th, 1:34 pm |
Third Quarter Moon | May 12th, 10:28 am |
New Moon | May 19th, 11:53 am |
First Quarter Moon | May 27th, 11:22 am |
CURRENT PLANET VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES
Venus: In the western sky at sunset, sets before midnight in the northwest
Mars: In the west-southwestern sky at sunset, sets in the northwest just after 1 am
Jupiter: Nearly impossible to view, rises in the east about 20-30 minutes before sunrise, not in sky at sunset
Saturn: Not in the sky at sunset, limited viewing, rises in the sky around 3:30 am in the eastern sky
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