Skylights: May 2026

The nights of May are getting shorter, warmer, and filled with the scents of spring. As the chorus of peepers and wood frogs gives way to night-singing insects, observers may spot a few bats flying overhead during twilight.

As twilight pushes well into the 9:00pm hour, early evening observers will more often find themselves under the sky into the late evening, or even past midnight.

The Sun

Our first day with a minimum of 14 hours of daylight is the 1st. Daylight remains longer than 14 hours through August 11.

The Equation of Time reaches a local maximum on the 14th, with the Sun ahead of Mean Solar Time by 3:40 minutes.

The Sun moves into Taurus on the morning of the 14th, just as Mercury passes behind it. The Pleiades are in conjunction on the 19th, and Aldebaran on the 31st.

The 17th will have the first of 80 sunsets in the 8:00pm hour, lasting through the 4th of August.

The Moon

We have two full Moons in May, the first, the Flower Moon, occurs at 1:23pm EDT on the 1st, in Libra. Watch the Moon rise at 8:09pm, 25 minutes past sunset. It transits at 12:59am on the 2nd, at an elevation of 25.8° over the southern horizon, and sets at 5:41am, within just one minute of sunrise.

The 94.2% waning gibbous is close to Antares (α Scorpii) on the 3rd, when the pair are only 1° apart just after Moonrise.

The Moon reaches its last quarter phase at 5:10pm on the 9th, in Capricornus.

An observing challenge: The 16.6% waning crescent Moon occults 2 Pallas just after moonrise on the 13th. The egress from the dark limb of the Moon occurs at 4:13am. A reasonably large telescope with high magnification will be needed to see the 10.2 magnitude asteroid through a brightening sky.

The next morning, the 14th, the Moon is among the morning planets, with Saturn 10.0° to its left (southwest), and Mars 7.5° to its east.

Try to find the very old (just eleven hours before new) Moon rising at 4:48am on the 16th. Find a clear north-northeastern horizon and use a telescope aimed at an azimuth of 60.1° to find the 0.4% illuminated crescent..

New Moon, and the start of Lunation 1279, is at 4:01pm on the 16th. This month’s new Moon is a notable distinction with the Moon and Sun being located within different constellations: Aries and Taurus, respectively.

One of the most stunning sights in the sky is when the crescent Moon pairs with brilliant Venus. We are treated to one of these pairings on the 18th, when the 7.1% crescent Moon is 2.4° from Venus. Turn your telescope to the Moon just before 8:56pm that evening to watch the dark limb of the Moon occult 136 Tauri. The 4.6 magnitude star reappears 23 minutes later right at the northern cusp.

The Moon is near Jupiter on the 19th and 20th. 

Find the waxing crescent Moon near Regulus on the 22nd. It reaches its first quarter phase the next morning, the 23rd, at 7:11am.

The waxing gibbous Moon is close to Spica on the 25th and 26th.

Known as a blue Moon, May’s second full Moon is at 4:45am on the 31st, rising at 8:08pm on the 30th, four minutes before sunset. Throughout the night, it tracks just a few degrees from Antares, in Scorpius. The Moon is at a maximum elevation of just 20.8° over the southern horizon at 12:32am. This is the second most southerly full Moon of 2026, just one-half degree higher than the full Strawberry Moon on June 30th.

The Planets

Mercury is at superior conjunction on the 14th, and, although inconsequential to Earth-based observers, it will pass directly behind the Sun for about 8½ hours beginning at 5:42am.

When the innermost planet emerges back into the evening sky later in the month, it will commence one of its best evening apparitions of 2026. Beginning on the 23rd, it sets at least an hour past sunset, and by the 30th, it will be visible for 90 minutes after sunset, as it gains prominent position among the other two planets of the May evening sky, Venus and Jupiter.

Traditionally referred to as the Evening Star, Venus continues to shine brightly in the west-northwest after sunset. Through a telescope, its featureless gibbous disk grows from 11.6 to 13.3 arcseconds over the course of the month. By the end of May, its illuminated fraction is just under 80%.

Venus crosses into the Winter Hexagon on the 4th, joining Jupiter inside the previous season’s most prominent star pattern, which is becoming consumed by twilight.

On the 7th and 8th, Venus is within the same telescopic field of view as the open star cluster NGC 1746, an object listed in the Astronomical League’s Open Cluster Observing Program.

On the 14th, the brilliant planet lies 2.6° north of the supernova remnant known as the Crab Nebula, or Messier 1.

The crescent Moon joins the Evening Star on the 18th, creating a beautiful pair with the Earthlit globe of the Moon just 2.4° from the -3.9 magnitude planet.

On the 19th, Venus crosses into Gemini, the same constellation occupied by Jupiter, and on the following evening, the 20th, find the open star cluster M35 just 0.6° to the south of Venus.

During the last week of May, Venus gets closer to Jupiter by about one degree per day. On the last evening of the month, the pair of bright planets are separated by just 8.7°.

Mars remains low in the east before sunrise. The waning crescent Moon joins the Red Planet on the 14th and 15th.

Mars moves into Aries on the 18th.

Jupiter, with its residence in the winter constellation Gemini, is appearing lower in the west each evening. During the first week of May, use binoculars to watch its position change relative to magnitude 3.5 Wasat (δ Geminorum). 

Jupiter’s four Galilean moons appear in order of orbital distance to the west of the planet on the 9th.

On the 14th and 15th, it lies just 1.3° north of Caldwell 39 (NGC 2392), a planetary nebula that lies over 6,000 light years away, and shines at magnitude 9.9.

As the king of the planets continues moving eastward at about 10 arcminutes per day (about ⅓ the apparent diameter of the Moon), note how its changing position is easily noted with respect to the twin stars Castor and Pollux.

During the latter half of May, with Venus moving towards Jupiter at over one degree per day, notice how much closer the two brightest planets appear each evening.

The giant planet visits the compact open cluster NGC 2420 on the 26th, when it is just ⅓° north of the 8th magnitude cluster.

Located within the non-zodiacal constellation Cetus, the whale, Saturn is slowly returning to visibility in the predawn sky. The waning crescent Moon is 6.3° to its west on the 13th, and 9.5° northeast (parallel with the horizon) on the 14th.

The ringed planet rises before the onset of twilight for the first time on the 23rd. With its ring angle expanded to -9.7°, the planet will return to its more familiar appearance compared to last year’s ring-plane crossing.

Uranus departs our evening sky in May, but before we send it our farewell for this season, take one last look at it 4.1° south of the Pleiades cluster just over the west-northwestern horizon during the opening days of the month.

The seventh planet is at conjunction on the 22th, and, like Mercury six days earlier, it also passes directly behind the solar disk. The occultation begins at 4:48am and lasts for just over eleven hours.

Uranus returns to the morning sky in late July.

Located in Pisces, Neptune emerges from twilight on the 14th. On the 22nd, find the 7.8 magnitude planet 3.9° NNW of magnitude 8.1 Vesta. At the beginning of May, Neptune is 6.0° west of Saturn. The separation increases to 8.2° by month’s end.

Neptune also has a conjunction with 2 Pallas in May, and on the 15th, Pallas, Neptune, and Vesta all lie on an 8° long line; however, magnitude 10.2 Pallas will be a challenge to observe while it remains low in the sky.

Minor Planets

Ceres is at conjunction on the 15th and out of view. We’ll be able to begin observing the solar system’s innermost dwarf planet later in July.

Pluto shines at a dim magnitude 14.5 in Capricornus, and is located 3.6° northwest of ψ Capricorni, a magnitude 4.1 class F5 main sequence star that lies 48 light years away.

Vesta returns to the morning sky in May. The large asteroid rises just before the onset of twilight in early May and can be seen as an eighth magnitude object about two binocular fields to the right of Saturn. It crosses into Pisces on the 8th.

At tenth magnitude, asteroid 2 Pallas is not easily seen low in the eastern sky during May, but its proximity to the brighter planets make it a worthwhile hunt.

It is occulted by the 16.6% waning crescent Moon on the 13th, beginning just after moonrise, and ending at 4:13 during twilight.

Pallas is just 3.0° west-northwest of Saturn on the 31st.

During the second half of the month, Vesta is 4.0° south of Neptune. At just a few tenths of a magnitude dimmer than our eighth planet, both objects will require a small telescope to view due to their low elevation in the sky.

Meteors

Earth intersects the meteor stream from Comet 1P/Halley during May. The broad stream produces a long-duration, yet relatively low intensity, meteor shower, with peak activity occurring on the night of May 5-6.

The fast-moving meteors appear to originate from the northernmost star of the water jar asterism of Aquarius, eta (η) Aquarii, giving the shower its namesake. As this part of the sky isn’t visible until after 2:00am, this shower is ideally timed for pre-dawn observers. 

Observers can expect to see ten or more meteors per hour during an entire week, centered around peak night, which will be flooded with moonlight from the 88.7% waning gibbous Moon. Eta Aquariids enter the atmosphere at a relatively fast 65 km/s, and the brighter ones tend to produce visible trains.

The Stars

Looking to the north, we let our familiar friend the Big Dipper show us a significant positional shift indicating the progression of the season. At the onset of darkness in early May, we find the two pointer stars, Merak (β), and Dubhe (α Ursae Marjois) in their highest position directly above Polaris (α Ursae Minoris). Just after dark at the end of the month, the entire asterism (the Big Dipper is only part of the larger constellation Ursa Major, the great bear), is west of the meridian, and the bright star pointed to by the arc of its handle, Arcturus, lies directly high due south.

As the spring sky turns above us, deep sky observers looking to explore the extragalactic realm can enjoy their quarry without waiting until the late hours. 

Midnight and early morning observers will be treated to an early preview of the summer Milky Way, as Scorpius and Sagittarius come into position. 

May gives us the first whole month when Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, is visible during all hours of darkness. As we await the Blaze Star’s (T Coronae Borealis’s) expected outburst and brief brightening from its quiescent 10th magnitude up to 2nd, consider that not only have the photons signaling its anticipated peak left the star system nearly 3,000 years ago, but, if its periodicity remains constant, there are likely 37±1 subsequent outbursts that are already on their way to us!

For May’s cosmic journey, we’ll choose a single star that is positioned high overhead, just a short distance from the Big Dipper, and one that is bright enough to be visible with a simple pair of binoculars.

What makes this star special is its color. Known as La Superba, or Y Canum Venaticorum (Y CvN), the star is a luminous red giant late in its evolutionary life cycle.

An abundance of carbon in its atmosphere absorbs much of the shorter wavelengths, giving the star its reddish appearance, much like how wildfire smoke high in Earth’s atmosphere causes deep red sunsets.

La Superba, like all carbon stars, is variable; hence, the capital letter in its other official designation, Y Canum Venaticorum. Over a period of 157 days the star varies from magnitude 6.5 to 4.8. It is number 55 on the Astronomical League’s Carbon Star Observing Program. Its name derives from the Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi, who described the star in 1868 as “superba” (superb). The name became official in 2018 when the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Star Names ascribed the name “La Superba” to Y Canum Venaticorum.

Finding La Superba is quite easy, but you may want to find a comfortably reclined viewing position, due to its location high overhead. First, locate the two brightest stars making up the constellation Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs: Cor Caroli (α CvN) and Chara (β CvN). Starting at Chara, move slightly more than ¼ the distance to Mizar (ζ Ursae Majoris), the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper, that is also a well-known double star. La Superba should be immediately recognized by its red color.

Although visible with binoculars, the color is much more pronounced when observed through larger instruments. 

When you’re gazing up at this red star, you’re looking across 1012 light years at a star so large that if it were placed in our solar system, it would extend beyond the orbit of Mars. It shines with a luminosity of over 22,000 Suns. 

Once you’ve seen La Superba, you’ll find yourself not only revisiting this gem every spring, but also seeking out other superb carbon stars.