The Night Sky This Month – May 2026
(Looking for last month’s ‘Night Sky’? Find it at this link…)
This month, Jupiter and Venus shine brightly in the west after sunset along with the dazzling stars of the northern winter constellations on their way out for the year. Mars and Saturn make a return to the morning sky and slowly brighten in the coming weeks. The best meteor shower of the year for southern observers, the Eta Aquariids, is already going strong and peaks on May 5-6. For deep-sky observers, May means galaxy season as our night sky looks out of the plane of the Milky Way into the intergalactic void. And the month holds a somewhat rare ‘Blue Moon’, a second full Moon in a calendar month. Who among us will look on the Moon the same after the spectacularly successful Artemis II mission in which four astronauts looped around its far side and travelled farther from Earth than any humans before. Here’s what to see in the night sky this month.
1 May 2026. Full Moon, 17:23 UT (the full ‘Flower Moon’).
3 May. The fat gibbous Moon rises less than 2o east of Antares in Scorpius in the southeastern sky.
5-6 May. The usually reliable Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. The shower runs from April 21 through May 20 each year, with many meteors still visible for several days on either side of the peak. The Eta Aquarids occur as Earth passes through a stream of icy and dusty debris from Comet 1/P Halley, more commonly called Halley’s Comet. We pass through a second stream of the comet in late October during the Orionids meteor shower. Look for the meteors anywhere in the sky, preferably after midnight. They trace their paths back to a point near the star Eta Aquarii which rises in the eastern/southeastern sky before dawn. This is perhaps the best meteor shower of the year for southern hemisphere stargazers, but northern observers may see a few of these meteors too. NOTE: If you’re clouded out, or too far north, you can always watch some of the shower on the excellent live feed from the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
9 May. Last Quarter Moon, 21:10 UT
14 May. Mars debuts in the morning sky and sits about 7o east of the waning crescent Moon in the east-northeastern sky before dawn. The planet is still small and relatively dim at magnitude +1.2. Saturn lies about 8o to the southwest of the Moon and shines slightly brighter at magnitude +0.9. Binoculars help you take in the view.
14 May. Mercury is in superior conjunction with the Sun.
16 May. New Moon, 20:01 UT.
18 May. A fresh crescent Moon lies about 2o northwest of brilliant Venus in the west-northwest after sunset on the 18th. Jupiter lies to the east near Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Both planets are brighter than any star – Venus at magnitude -3.9 and Jupiter at magnitude -1.9. The Moon moves between the two bright planets on the 19th, then leapfrogs Jupiter to lie east of it on May 20. These planets, the Moon, and the bright stars make for pleasant viewing on a spring night.
21 May. Venus passes 0.8o north of the lovely star cluster M35 in Gemini. Grab a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope to see planet and cluster together.
22 May. The half-lit Moon leads the icy-white star Regulus towards the western horizon after sunset.
22 May. Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun.
23 May. First Quarter Moon, 11:11 UT
30-31 May. The Moon again lies near Antares in the western hemisphere on the night of May 30. On May 31, observers in the southern part of South America, all of New Zealand, and eastern Australia see the Moon occult this bright supergiant star. More information on observing this occultation here.
31 May. Full Moon, 08:45 UT (a full ‘Blue Moon’).