May skies

April 21, 2026

Key points from this story:

• Antares occultation on May 3
• Apogee on May 4
• Mars south of crescent Moon on May 14
• Jupiter's double shadows in May
• Mercury visible last week of May
• Eta Aquariid meteors peak on May 6

Apogee occurs on the 4th, at a distance of 405,839 km. The Moon is at last quarter on the 9th. On the 14th, Mars is 5 degrees south of a slim-crescent Luna, just prior to new Moon on the 16th. Perigee occurs on the 17th, at a distance of 358,075 km. Large tides occur in coastal areas. The following evening sees Venus 3 degrees south of a slender crescent Moon, then Jupiter a couple of days later, on the 20th, is also 3 degrees south. The 21st finds the Moon among the stars of the Beehive Cluster (M44). The "M" refers to Charles Messier, a French astronomer in the 18th century. He hunted comets, but discovered numerous annoying comet-like objects that just confused his searches. He made a list for his friends, named The Messier Catalogue, with 106 objects. Four more have been added since by other observers. A spring challenge among astronomers is to see all 110 objects in one night of observing--a Messier Marathon. May 23 has another southern occultation, this time with Regulus, only 0.1 degrees away from the first-quarter Moon. On the 27th, Spica is 1.9 degrees north. Finally, the 31st is full Moon, the smallest in 2026, and Antares is once again occulted in the south, only 0.4 degrees away for northern viewers.

Mercury is too close to the Sun for viewing, but may be seen in the west during the last week of May.

Venus puts on a show in the western evening sky, remaining high among the stars of Taurus. It slowly rises along the ecliptic, almost catching up to Jupiter in Gemini by month-end.

Mars by the middle of May has risen away from the horizon in the morning sky, among the stars of Aries, The Ram.

Jupiter, high up after sunset, has double shadows from two of the Galilean moons on its disk four times in May: on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. On the 20th, the waxing crescent Moon is 3 degrees north.

Saturn has pulled away from the April crowd, rising shortly after 3 a.m. The waning crescent Moon passes by on the 13th.

Uranus is too close to the Sun to be seen.

Neptune and the waning crescent Moon are a pair on the 13th, but you'll need a good telescope to see the very distant planet--it's only 30.5 astronomical units away from Earth, about 4.58 billion kilometres!