Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova!
The first week of May brings the
annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on the 6th. And sometime in the next few
months, astronomers predict a "new star" or nova explosion will
become visible to the unaided eye.
Skywatching Highlights
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 Aquarid 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.
Transcript
What’s Up for May? Four bright
planets, morning and night, a chance of meteor showers, and waiting for a
nova.
May Planet Viewing
For planet watching this month, you'll find Mars and Jupiter in the west following sunset. Mars sticks around for several hours after it gets dark out, but Jupiter is setting by 9:30 or 10 p.m., and getting lower in the sky each day. 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.
Sky chart showing Venus and Saturn with the crescent
Moon in the predawn sky on May 23., 2025.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
In the morning sky, Venus and Saturn are the planets to look for in May.
They begin the month appearing close together on the sky, and progressively
pull farther apart as the month goes on. For several days in late May, early
risers will enjoy a gathering of the Moon with Saturn and Venus in the eastern
sky before dawn. Watch as the Moon passes the two planets while becoming an
increasingly slimmer crescent. You'll find the Moon hanging between Venus and
Saturn on the 23rd.
Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower
Early May brings the annual Eta
Aquarid meteor shower. These are meteors that originate from Comet Halley.
Earth passes through the comet’s dust stream each May, and again in October.
Eta Aquarids are fast moving, and a lot of them produce persistent dust trains
that linger for seconds after the meteor’s initial streak.
This is one of the best annual
showers in the Southern Hemisphere, but tends to be more subdued North of the
Equator, where we typically see 10-20 meteors per hour. On the peak night this
year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal
viewing conditions. While the peak 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.
Waiting for a Nova
Sky chart showing constellation
Corona Borealis with the location where nova "T CrB" is predicted to
appear. The view depicts the constellation with the nova occurring, indicated
by an arrow.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Astronomers have been waiting expectantly for light from a distant
explosion to reach us here on Earth. An event called a nova is anticipated to
occur sometime in the coming months. Some 3,000 light years away is a binary
star system called T Coronae Borealis, or “T CrB.” It consists of a red giant
star with a smaller white dwarf star orbiting closely around it. Now the
giant’s outer atmosphere is all puffed up, and the dwarf star is close enough
that its gravity continually captures some of the giant’s hydrogen. About every
80 years, the white dwarf has accumulated so much of the other star’s hydrogen,
that it ignites a thermonuclear explosion. And that’s the nova.
T Coronae Borealis is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, or the “Northern Crown,” and it’s normally far too faint to see with the unaided eye. But it's predicted the nova will be as bright as the constellation’s brightest star, which is about as bright as the North Star, Polaris. You’ll find Corona Borealis right in between the two bright stars Arcturus and Vega, and you can use the Big Dipper’s handle to point you to the right part of the sky. Try having a look for it on clear, dark nights before the nova, so you’ll have a comparison when a new star suddenly becomes visible there.
A sky chart indicating how to locate the constellation
Corona Borealis between the bright stars Arcturus and Vega. The Big Dipper's
handle points in the direction of Corona Borealis.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Now, you may have heard about this months ago, as astronomers started
keeping watch for the nova midway through 2024, but it hasn't happened yet.
Predicting exactly when novas or any sort of stellar outburst will happen is
tricky, but excitement began growing when astronomers observed the star to dim
suddenly, much as it did right before its previous nova in 1946. When the nova
finally does occur, it won't stay bright for long, likely flaring in peak
brightness for only a few days. And since it's not predicted again for another
80 years, you might just want to join the watch for this super rare, naked eye
stellar explosion in the sky!
Here are the phases of the Moon for May.
The phases of the Moon for May 2025.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
You can stay up to date on all of NASA's missions exploring the solar system and beyond at NASA Science.
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