What’s up in the night sky: May 2024

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: a pre-dawn planet party and a good meteor shower, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere, courtesy of Halley’s Comet.

First half of the month: Mercury is low in the pre-dawn east. It is highest on May 9.

All month: Yellowish Saturn is rising higher in the pre-dawn east as the month goes on.

All month: Reddish Mars is below the similarly bright Saturn in the pre-dawn east, getting higher as the weeks pass.

May 3: Moon near Saturn.

May 4-5: Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. The Eta Aquarids is an above-average meteor shower, with about 60 meteors per hour at its peak seen from a dark site. This meteor shower is best seen from the southern hemisphere, although a fair amount of activity can be seen from the northern hemisphere. A crescent Moon will provide little interference. The best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Though the peak is on the night of May 4 through 5, there are increased meteors for a few days before and after. This shower is caused by debris from Halley’s Comet.

May 5: The Moon is near Mars.

May 8: New Moon.

May 23: Full Moon.

May 31: The Moon is near Saturn.