{"id":3143,"date":"2026-05-02T03:46:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2026-05-02T03:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:46:57","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-may-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2026\/05\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-may-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through May, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May_2026_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between May 1 and May 31, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong> begins May close to the sun, and it is not safe to observe. On the 24th<\/sup>, the sun sets at 7:55 p.m., PDT, and Mercury sets in the west-northwest at 8:57 p.m., PDT, one hour two minutes later. On the 31st<\/sup>, the sun sets at 7:59 p.m., PDT, and Mercury sets at 9:31 p.m., PDT. The planet is 72-percent illuminated and is 6.0 arcseconds wide. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> sets on the 1st<\/sup> in the west-northwest at 9:54 p.m., PDT, and the sun sets at 7:37 p.m., PDT. The planet is 87-percent illuminated and 12 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Venus sets at 10:38 p.m., PDT, and is 80-percent illuminated and 13 arcseconds wide.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. The planet moves into Aries the Ram on the 18th<\/sup>. On the 1st<\/sup>, Mars rises in the east at 5:00 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:04 a.m., PDT, one hour four minutes later. The planet is 98-percent illuminated and 4.2 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mars rises in the east-northeast at 4:05 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 5:43 a.m., PDT. A telescope with a magnification of 200x is needed to see the disk.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 12:47 a.m., PDT, and is 36 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 11:04 p.m., PDT, and is 33 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons also can be seen moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in Cetus the Sea Monster. On the 1st<\/sup>, Saturn rises in the east at 4:46 a.m., PDT, and is 16 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet rises at 2:56 a.m., PDT. The rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon, Titan, may be seen with a telescope capable of magnification 50x.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 9:06 p.m., PDT. On the 7th<\/sup>, the sun sets at 7:42 p.m., PDT, and Uranus sets at 8:44 p.m., PDT, one hour two minutes later. After the 7th<\/sup>, Uranus is close to the sun, and it is not safe to observe it. The planet\u2019s disk is 3.4 arcseconds wide. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3h<\/sup> 55m<\/sup> 53s<\/sup>, declination +20\u00b0 12\u02b9 53\u02ba. A telescope with a magnification of 200x is needed to see its disk.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune rises in the east at 4:27 a.m., PDT. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east at 2:31 a.m., PDT. The planet is 2.2 arcseconds wide. On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune is at Right Ascension 0h<\/sup> 15m<\/sup> 34s<\/sup>, declination +0\u00b0 14\u02b9 22\u02ba. A telescope with a magnification of 200x is needed to see its disk.<\/p>\n

The moon is full on the 1st<\/sup>, last quarter on the 9th<\/sup>, new on the 16th<\/sup>, first quarter on the 23rd<\/sup>, and full again on the 31st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Blue Moon<\/strong> will occur on May 31.\u00a0 According to modern tradition, a Blue Moon is the second Full Moon in a calendar month.<\/p>\n

The eta Aquariid meteor shower<\/strong> will occur from the night of April 19 through May 28. The meteors come from comet Halley. They are named for the star in Aquarius the Water Bearer, from which they appear to originate. The shower is best seen from the southern hemisphere. From the northern hemisphere, it usually produces medium rates of 10 to 30 meteors per hour just before dawn. The meteors are swift with a high percentage of persistent trains but few fireballs. The peak occurs from the evening of the 5th<\/sup> through the morning of the 6th<\/sup>, with rates approaching 50 meteors an hour. The waning gibbous moon is 73-percent illuminated and will interfere with observations after midnight.<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May_2026_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between May 1 and May 31, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury begins May close to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3151,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions\/3151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}