Gradually, during May, Jupiter is relinquishing its dominance of the evening sky that it has held for these many months. Toward month's end, Jupiter will pair off with a narrow crescent moon just before it bids a fond adieu.
The other evening planet, Mars, continues to fade as it moves away from Earth. Early in the month, it is joined by the moon and on May 4, it will engage in a conjunction with the attractive Beehive Star Cluster; a lovely sight for binocular users.
Venus dominates the early morning sky and teams with a much fainter Saturn early in the month. Saturn's rings are turned nearly edgewise to the sun and Earth and are all but invisible until May 6, when the sun begins to illuminate their southern side; they'll begin to reveal themselves as a thin line of light bisecting the disk of the planet. The only planet "out of the loop," so to speak, is Mercury, which is aligned too close to the sun to be seen all month.
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Read more: Best telescopes for seeing planets in 2025
Want to see planets up close in the night sky? The Celestron NexStar 4SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of celestial objects. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 4SE review.
In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them.
Be sure to check out our best telescopes for viewing planets guide and our more general guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes. If you're interested in taking your own impressive skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography, as well as a guide on how to photograph the planets.
Mercury
Mercury is in superior conjunction on May 29, meaning the sun will be between us and this speedy planet, rendering it invisible. It now enters the evening sky, where it will put on a moderately good apparition during the latter part of June.
Venus
Venus is the dazzlingly bright Morning Star for this spring and summer. Look for it low in the east. It attained its greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7) on April 27, but it is practically at that level of brightness much of this month. Watch in a telescope as Venus thickens from a 29% illuminated crescent on the 1st to become almost half-lit (49%) by month's end, shrinking all the while.
Early risers should check out the eastern sky after 4:00 a.m. on May 23 local daylight time to catch sight of a lovely crescent moon, and shining well to its lower left will be Venus.
Mars
Mars begins May at a distance of 133 million miles (214 million km) from Earth. By month's end, that distance will have increased to nearly 158 million miles (254 million km). Consequently, this orange world dims during May from magnitude +1.0 to +1.3. On the evening of May 3, a wide (45-percent illuminated) crescent moon is positioned less than 2 degrees above Mars in that evening's sky. With binoculars, take note of what appears to be a large, scattered cluster of faint stars just off to the east (left) of Mars; the Praesepe or Beehive Star Cluster. The next night (May 4), Mars will appear to pass just to the north of the cluster's center, a very pretty sight.
Jupiter
Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, is still the brightest "star" at dusk in May, despite being dimmed by low altitude and its great distance from Earth on the far side of the solar system. Jupiter has had a brilliant, yearlong apparition, but its time is fast running out.
By May 31, it will set about 80 minutes after the sun and then in early June, it is gone completely, hidden behind the glare of the sun. On what date will you last see it? At dusk on May 28, look low toward the west-northwest for a slender crescent moon hovering about 8 degrees above the planet Jupiter.
Saturn
Saturn is becoming easier to sight in the morning sky as it slowly moves away from the glare of the rising sun. On May 6, the south side of the rings of Saturn begins to become illuminated by the sun as seen from Earth. Up until now, the rings have been practically invisible because of their near edge-on orientation toward Earth. But in the coming days and weeks, as the rings begin ever-so-slowly "open-up," to our line of sight, they'll become more evident to telescopic observers.
Also, on this same morning, Saturn is situated 5.5 degrees to the right of Venus, but shines only 1/229 as bright. Binoculars will help you locate it against the bright twilight sky. Looking low toward the east-southeast horizon about 90 minutes before sunrise on May 22, you'll see a bright yellowish-white "star" about 4.5 degrees to the lower left of the moon. But this object is actually Saturn. Using a small telescope will reveal that the rings are now evident as a narrow line bisecting the planet's equator.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.
Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
