Moon Tonight: May 1 full moon peaks with best rise and set view
Moon tonight reaches peak illumination midday on May 1, and the clearest view comes at moonrise or moonset. That timing gives skywatchers the best chance to catch the moon when it sits low on the horizon, where it can look larger and take on a warm, orange hue.
May 1 full moon
The full moon peaks in the middle of the day, but the most dramatic viewing happens outside that window. An optical illusion at moonrise or moonset can make the moon appear larger, so the best time to step outside is when it is first lifting above the horizon or dropping toward it.
The low-angle view can also shift the color. The moon may appear yellowish or orange near the horizon, giving the early May moon a different look than it has higher in the sky.
May sky events
May’s sky features not one but two full moons, with a second one at the end of the month often called a blue moon. According to NASA, that happens about once every two to three years, and the name does not mean the moon will actually look blue.
The month also includes the Eta Aquariids, visible from April 19 to May 28 and peaking overnight from May 5 to 6. The shower can produce up to a few dozen streaks per hour. Northern Hemisphere stargazers can also spot the Milky Way core from around midnight until the early morning, with the best view around the night of May 16 when the new moon leaves the sky dark.
May 12 and May 18
Mars, Saturn, and the crescent moon line up almost perfectly in the eastern sky on the mornings of May 12 to 13, roughly an hour before sunrise. The trio also appears in a pyramid shape on May 14, when the moon is a dramatically thin wisp.
Later in the month, the crescent moon and Venus form a tight pair on the evening of May 18. Mercury sits above the west horizon just after sunset that night, with Jupiter above the moon-Venus pairing.
