Overview
- NASA released a May observing guide that lays out key dates, what to look for, and how to see each event from typical backyards.
- The Eta Aquariid meteors peak May 5–6 from Halley’s Comet and can reach about 50 per hour in ideal dark skies, though northern viewers usually see fewer.
- Moonlight will wash out many fainter meteors near the peak with the waning gibbous about 83% lit, so NASA advises pre‑dawn viewing from dark sites, letting eyes adjust 20–30 minutes, avoiding phone screens, and using terrain to block the Moon.
- A close Moon–Venus sighting will be visible after sunset on May 18 toward the western sky, with Venus and Jupiter favored in the evening and Mars, Saturn, and Neptune before dawn.
- Two full moons bookend the month on May 1 and May 31, with the second counted as a blue moon and both occurring as micromoons, plus a new moon on May 16 for dark‑sky targets, a minor Eta Lyrid peak on May 10, and Manhattanhenge in New York on May 28–29 at about 8:14 p.m. and 8:13 p.m. ET.