NASA Skywatching Tips for May 2025 and Teacher Appreciation Month ·

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Last Updated on May 2, 2025 by Cass County Communication Network

Here’s some info shared by our local Solar System Ambassador Pam Roller:

NASA Skywatching Tips for May 2025

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/whats-up-may-2025-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/

Credits: NASA/JPL/Caltech, Preston Dyches

Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova!

All Month – Planet Visibility:

· Venus: Appears very bright and low in the east in the hour before sunrise all month.

· Mars: Easy to find in the west in the first few hours of the night, all month long. Sets around midnight to 1 a.m. local time.

· Jupiter: Shines brightly in the west following sunset all month. Early in the month it sets about two hours after the Sun, but by late May it’s setting only an hour after sunset.

· Saturn: Begins the month next to Venus, low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Quickly separates from Saturn and rises higher in the sky each day before dawn.

Daily Highlights

May 6 – Eta Aquarids Meteors – The peak of this annual shower is early on the morning of May 6th. The two or three nights before that are also decent opportunities to spy a few shooting stars. On the peak night this year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal viewing conditions. Seeing 10-20 meteors per hour is common for the Northern Hemisphere, while south of the equator, observers tend to see substantially more.

May 3 – Mars & Moon: The first quarter Moon appears right next to the Red Planet on the 3rd. Find them in the west during the first half of the night that evening.

All month – Venus & Saturn: Low in the eastern sky each morning you’ll find bright Venus paired with much fainter Saturn. They start the month close together, but Saturn pulls away and rises higher over the course of the month.

All month – Mars & Jupiter: The planets to look for on May evenings are Mars and Jupiter. They’re visible for a couple of hours after sunset in the western sky.

All month – Corona Borealis: Practice finding this constellation in the eastern part of the sky during the first half of the night, so you have a point of comparison when the T CrB nova appears there, likely in the next few months.

Since Teacher Appreciation Day is coming up, the following links may be inspirational!

Teachers: Thank You to the Moon and Back!