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The evening and morning skies are plentiful with planets. After sunset look for super-bright Venus high in the west, with Mars looking dimmer and reddish nearby. Before dawn you can spot Mercury near the eastern horizon, reaching its highest point on May 29. Jupiter shines bright above it, with yellowish Saturn higher in the sky. Learn more at planetary.org/night-sky.
What’s up in the night sky: May 2023
Our monthly feature focuses on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, including eclipses, supermoons, meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, and more.
Your current night sky view
Want a map of tonight's sky for your location? We recommend Stellarium, available on the web and for mobile devices.
Night Sky Toolkits
Astronomy for Beginners
An introduction to backyard astronomy for amateur stargazers.
How to Pick the Best Beginner Telescope
Picking out your first telescope can be overwhelming. This easy-to-follow guide will help you find the best telescope that you'll actually use.
Night Sky Photography for Beginners
An introduction to full-sky astrophotography using a digital camera.
Eta Aquarid meteor shower 2023: How to watch
Here's everything you need to know about the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower and how to watch it.
Moon Toolkits
Moon features you can see from Earth
What can you see on the Moon tonight? This guide from The Planetary Society will help you identify some features.
What is a supermoon?
What is a supermoon, and why does it happen?
The Moon, preserving Earth's origin story
The Moon is the only world besides Earth ever visited by humans. By studying it, scientists can piece together Earth’s origin story.
Can the Moon be upside down?
When you think about how the Moon looks in the night sky, you might never have considered that it looks different to people in other parts of the world. But really, perspective is all relative.