The Moon
The Moon In May
This May opens with a full moon, so DSO observing is out of the question for a short while.
Sunset is already late for some of us – it’s towards 9pm as May begins in England, for example – so we’re not getting dark, moonless skies until after the first week of May has passed. The last quarter moon is on the ninth and we have our darkest evening skies of the month from then, past the new moon on the 16th, and through the third week of May, where the waxing crescent won’t be much of a distraction.
The best time for viewing the moon is first quarter, and that falls on the evening of the 23rd. Don’t forget to use the Lunar 100 to find some of the best sights our neighbor has to offer!
We end the month with a waxing gibbous moon, steadily impacting more and more into our evening viewing, culminating in a full moon once more on the last night of May.
Moon Name
May’s full moon is most typically known as the Flower Moon, as it aligns with the blooming of the flowers during this time of the year. We will be able to view the full Flower Moon on Thursday May 23.
The May full moon is also known as the Milk Moon, which stems from an old English name. In the year 703 AD, the English monk St. Bede the Venerable named the month of May, the ‘Three-Milkings month’, as this was the month that the cows could be milked three times a day. Some other popular names are the Hare Moon and the Corn Planting Moon.
Viewing Summary
| Dark Evenings | Dark Mornings | Dark Night | Evening Moon | Morning Moon |
| 4-16 | 14-21 | 10-16 | 1, 18-30 | 2-6, 29-31 |
Moon Phases, Rise & Set Times
Whether you are planning to observe the moon, or you want to make sure to avoid it, use the table below to discover when the moon will be above the horizon this month. The ‘Illumination’ column shows how bright it is going to be – the higher the %, the brighter the moon.
Moon Table Notes
- A=Apogee (furthest approach), P=Perigee (closest approach), FQ=First Quarter, LQ=Last Quarter
- All times are for Kansas City (DST). However, these times will be approximately accurate for your local time zone wherever you are in the northern hemisphere. For example, if you live in London, UK, the moonrise and set times will be no more than an hour different from those shown in the table above.
- There are two moonrise columns in the table, this is because each day is timed from midnight to midnight. On some days in the month the moon is already in the sky at midnight, therefore it sets first before rising again later in the day. On other days, the moon is below the horizon at midnight. On those days it rises first before setting later in the day.
- The data in the table comes from timeanddate.com
Visualization Of The Moon’s Impact
The following chart shows a visualisation of when the moon is above the horizon and below. This should make it easier for you to plan which nights offer the darkest skies and which provide the best opportunity for observing the moon itself.
First & Last Quarter Moon Locations
The two pictures below, from SkySafari 6, show the last and first quarter moons available to us in May.
We’ll see it reach last quarter on 10 May, when the moon will be passing through Capricornus. Last quarter is always best viewed in the evening, when the moon is higher in the sky. The image below shows the moon’s location at 5:00 am when it will be 22° over the southern horizon.
First quarter, which is better for lunar gazers outside in the morning, happens on the 22nd of May. The second star chart below reveals that the moon is in Leo that night and 45° above the southeastern horizon at 10:00 pm.
Click on the pictures for full screen versions.
