The Milky Way, with the gas giant Jupiter visible in the top left corner. Photo by MPAS member Tony Nightingale
Highlights this month
- 5TueMercury in superior conjunction with the Sun — lost in the glare. (7:30am)
- 6WedEta Aquariids meteor shower peaks (up to 50/hr). A bright 98% Moon interferes badly this year.
- 11MonSaturn is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (5:34pm)
- 12TueThe Moon passes Jupiter — 2° apart. (8:16pm)
- 13WedThe Moon passes Saturn — 3° apart. (4:59am)
- 13WedVenus is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (8:50pm)
- 15FriJupiter is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (3:27am)
- 15FriThe Moon passes Mars — 3° apart. (1:55pm)
- 18MonJupiter and Saturn in conjunction — 5° apart. (2:07pm)
Sitting high in the southern sky during May is the prominent constellation Crux, the Southern Cross. If you have a small telescope, be sure to point it at Crux’s brightest star Acrux, which is actually a double star made of two blue-white stars. Whether you are observing with the naked eye or a telescope, it is the globular cluster NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, you will want to set your sights on this month. You can see it easily as a hazy star with the naked eye, whereas a telescope reveals many of its millions of stars in a tight ball. If you have a large aperture telescope, turn it towards the fine spiral galaxy M83 that sits in the constellation Hydra.
The Milky Way rises high in the south this month, with Sagittarius and Scorpius sitting in the east – a clue that winter is on its way in the southern hemisphere.
Caused by the dust left over from Halley’s Comet entering our atmosphere and vaporising, the Eta Aquariid shower peaks every year around May 5-6. You can expect to see roughly 30 meteors an hour if you’re very lucky. The meteors appear to be coming from a point near the star Eta Aquarii in Aquarius, and tend to be quite fast-moving. The farther south you are, the better view of the shower you will get.
Looking up on May 12, the moon will be between Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky. Then on May 15-16, Mars will be near the waning moon. On May 22, the planets Mercury and Venus will appear close, and May 24 will see a thin crescent moon near Venus.
By Nerida Langcake
This article appeared in the May 2020 issue of the Mornington Peninsula Magazine.
The sky in detail — May 2020
Sun & twilight
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length | Astro. dark begins | ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 | 7:02am | 5:32pm | 10h 30m | 7:01pm | 5:32am |
| Sun 10 | 7:10am | 5:22pm | 10h 12m | 6:53pm | 5:39am |
| Wed 20 | 7:18am | 5:14pm | 9h 56m | 6:46pm | 5:46am |
| Sun 31 | 7:27am | 5:08pm | 9h 41m | 6:42pm | 5:53am |
Days shorten by about 49 minutes over the month.
The Moon
- First QuarterFri 1, 6:43am
- Full MoonThu 7, 8:45pm
- Last QuarterFri 15, 12:08am
- New MoonSat 23, 3:41am
- First QuarterSat 30, 1:34pm
Perigee 6 May (359,400 km) · Apogee 18 May (405,600 km)
The planets
Rise/set for mid-month at The Briars.
| Planet | In | Mag | Rise | Transit | Set | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Tau | −1.3 | 8:18am | 1:04pm | 5:51pm | Hidden |
| Venus | Tau | −4.4 | 9:43am | 2:10pm | 6:37pm | Hidden |
| Mars | Aqr | 0.2 | 12:19am | 7:03am | 1:47pm | Morning |
| Jupiter | Sgr | −2.2 | 9:29pm | 4:45am | 11:57am | Morning |
| Saturn | Cap | 0.4 | 9:53pm | 5:05am | 12:13pm | Morning |
| Uranus | Ari | 5.9 | 5:51am | 11:09am | 4:27pm | Hidden |
| Neptune | Aqr | 7.9 | 1:58am | 8:14am | 2:31pm | Morning |
Meteor showers
- Eta Aquariids — peaks 6 May, radiant in Aquarius (up to 50/hr). Debris of Halley's Comet and one of the best showers of the year from the south — swift meteors in the pre-dawn eastern sky. A bright 98% Moon interferes badly this year.
Computed for The Briars, Mt Martha. Times are local (Melbourne).
Generated automatically from the MPAS sky engine on 15 August 2026.
The solar system — May 2020
Evening sky Morning sky Up much of the night Lost in the Sun’s glare
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