Venus is a beautiful morning planet through May 2025, while Mars and Jupiter are still there to be seen after sunset.
The planets become a lot less viable for observing as May rolls on, the shorter, lighter evenings combined with the planets' positions making things rather tricky towards the end of the month.
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As a result, the beginning of May 2025 offers a good chance to make the most of these Solar System worlds in our night sky.
Find out more about observing Venus in May 2025 and scroll down for our quick guide to which planets are – and aren't – visible this month.
Mercury
Like its inner Solar System neighbour Venus, Mercury is also currently a morning planet, but positioned too low to really be seen properly from the UK in the dawn twilight.
Mercury lines up with the Sun on the opposite side of its orbit from Earth to reach superior solar conjunction on 30 May.
Venus
- Best time to see: 31 May, 40 minutes before sunrise
- Altitude: 7° (low) Location: Pisces
- Direction: East
- Features: Phase, subtle atmospheric shading
- Recommended equipment: 75mm scope or larger
Mars
- Best time to see: 1 May, from 22:00 BST (21:00 UT)
- Altitude: 43°
- Location: Cancer
- Direction: Southwest
Mars is located just 1.6° to the west of M44, the Beehive Cluster in Cancer on 1 May, the planet passing through the northern regions of the cluster over the following evenings. On 4 May, magnitude +1.0 Mars sits 23 arcminutes north of the cluster’s centre.
Time is running out for the Red Planet, though, mag. +1.3 Mars appearing just 14° above the western horizon by the end of May.
Jupiter
- Best time to see: 1 May, from 22:00 BST (21:00 UT)
- Altitude: 17°
- Location: Taurus
- Direction: West-northwest
The current observational window for the planet Jupiter closes this month, the planet moving into the Sun’s glare at the end of May. On 1 May, Jupiter can still be seen languishing between the tips of the ‘horns’ of Taurus the Bull, low over the west-northwest horizon as twilight begins to darken.
Shining at mag. –1.8, through the eyepiece of a telescope Jupiter has an apparent diameter of 33 arcseconds. A 22%-lit waxing crescent Moon sits 17° east-northeast of the planet on 1 May.
By the middle of the month, as it passes just 1.1° north of M1 the Crab Nebula, twilight will take its toll and it will no longer be possible to see Jupiter against a dark sky from the UK. The Moon catches up with the planet again on 28 May, a 4%-lit waxing lunar crescent located 6.2° northeast of Jupiter on this date, although low altitude will unfortunately hamper this view.
Saturn
- Best time to see: 31 May, from 03:30 BST (02:30 UT)
- Altitude: 6°
- Location: Pisces
- Direction: East
Saturn is another morning planet struggling to escape from the Sun’s glare. As it manages to do this at the end of the month, a shallow dawn ecliptic angle keeps it at low altitude before sunrise.
The planet is in a small triangle with Venus and Neptune at the start of the month. A 21%-lit waning crescent Moon is positioned 7° northeast of Saturn on the morning of 23 May, nestled between Saturn and Venus.
Uranus
Uranus is unobservable this month and for the coming weeks as the planet reaches solar conjunction on 18 May.
Neptune
Neptune currently sits close to Saturn in the morning twilight, but the planet’s low altitude and a bright sky will keep it hidden from view.
Share your planetary images and observations with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com
