The South Carolina Sky Will Glow Red With This Week’s Upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse

Get ready, South Carolina, there's a total lunar eclipse happening this weekend and, by all indications, it's the Blood Moon of the century! Not only will it be bigger and brighter than any lunar eclipse we've seen (or will see) in a while, it's also happening at a reasonable hour - which means we don't have to set an alarm to get up and see it. This may be the best lunar eclipse over South Carolina in years!

It takes place this upcoming Sunday night into Monday morning... so May 15-16, 2022.

Here's what makes this one so spectacular: it features May's full moon called the "Flower Moon," which will be a huge super moon!

Fortunately, for those of us in the southeastern U.S., the total lunar eclipse of the May Flower Moon, also called a Blood Moon, will be visible in totality — all 84 minutes of it. And the best part?

The timing!! The action begins here over South Carolina at 11:29 p.m. on Sunday night (May 15th) and the action continues through 12:53 a.m. on Monday morning.

Here's a little of what you can expect. A photographer's progressive series of images is below. Note the moon appears in its usual light shade from left to right.

What's happening here, as the total lunar eclipse progresses, is the moon is falling into the Earth's umbra. Up until the point where it is in the complete shadow of the umbra it remains the light color as we watch the moon disappear into a crescent shape just before it reaches total eclipse. At that moment, it magically turns a blood red color and again, we see the full moon emerge. The Earth is now blocking any direct sunlight from reaching the moon and all of that red we see is simply light that's refracted from Earth's atmosphere.

Few things are as celestially magical as that moment when the moon skips from a tiny little crescent-shaped object in the sky and into a bright red, huge glowing ball high in the sky.

Will you be waiting up this year to watch the magic? Let's cross our fingers for a clear sky on Sunday night! This promises to be a fantastic lunar eclipse over South Carolina!