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Sky This Month: May 2024 Get your last look at Jupiter in the evening sky before all the planetary action moves into the morning this month. By Martin Ratcliffe and Alister Ling | Published: April 29, 2024 Four planets in the morning sky on Oct. 20, 2015 The planetary action moves to the morning sky this month, with several planets lining up. Here, (from bottom left) Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus stand in line in late 2015; the planetary players this May are Mercury, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn. Credit: Alan Dyer The evening sky loses its last planet early in May, shifting the attention of planetary observers to the morning. Try to glimpse Jupiter before it’s lost in the Sun’s glow soon after sunset. Meanwhile, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune are up before sunrise. A waning crescent Moon joins the group twice during May, adding beauty to the scene. May 1, 2024, 40 minutes after sunset, looking west Jupiter shares the sky with the first few bright stars after sunset, but you’ll need to catch it early in the month. Uranus (not shown) lies just to Jupiter’s lower right; it is too dim and close to the Sun’s glow to view. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly Jupiter sets within an hour of the Sun on May 1 and earlier each successive evening, limiting its observability. On the 1st it shines at magnitude –2, bright enough to be visible in early twilight. At the onset of civil twilight, when the Sun is 6° below the horizon, Jupiter stands 4.5° high. It’s not a great altitude to see visible details on the cloud tops, but for eager followers of the solar system’s largest planet, twilight is still a nice time to view it. The Galilean moons will be visible, although from time to time one or two are hidden behind the planet or transiting in front. Jupiter is lost quickly and reaches conjunction with the Sun May 18. The gas giant will reappear in the morning sky next month. Saturn and moons on May 29, 2024, 4:15 AM PDT With Saturn’s tilt shrinking, transits and occultations of its moons are common. Late in the month, observers in the western half of the U.S. can catch Titan crossing the planet’s south polar regions. Iapetus is also part of the scene. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly Moving to the pre-dawn sky, first up is Saturn, rising before 4 a.m. local daylight time on the 1st for northern temperate latitudes. You’ll find Saturn 7° northeast of a 24-day-old waning crescent Moon on the morning of May 3.