When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Venus, Jupiter and Mercury headline May’s skywatching, with stunning moon pairings and a three-planet display. | Credit: by Chakarin Wattanamongkol via Getty ImagesThe best planets to view this month are in the evening sky. Jupiter has been by far the best planet to observe both with the naked eye as well as through binoculars and telescopes these past several months, but its time is running out as it descends noticeably down the western sky during May. It continues to be placed near the “Twin Stars” of Gemini (Pollux and Castor) and the addition of a crescent moon passing by on May 20 makes for a rather attractive sky picture.Although lower in the western sky, Venus shines about seven times brighter than Jupiter, yet continues to be rather disappointing in telescopes. Its gibbous disk appears small and featureless. With the naked eye and especially through good binoculars, its conjunction with a slender crescent moon on May 18 will be very pleasing to see. Earthshine will make the view seem almost three-dimensional.AdvertisementAdvertisementToward the end of the month, a third bright planet — Mercury — will begin to make its presence felt near the west-northwest horizon shortly after sunset.As far as Saturn and Mars are concerned, the latter is gradually becoming easier to see in the morning sky, rising in the east just as dawn is breaking. Mars, which has been dawdling in the bright morning twilight since the start of 2026, continues to be a difficult object to spot, although you might be able to make use of a skinny crescent moon to lead you to it on May 14.MercuryMercury is at superior conjunction on May 14. In fact, the speedy planet is occulted (hidden) by the sun’s disk, but of course, this event is unobservable. Can you see it within a week after conjunction? Of magnitude -1.4 (as bright as Sirius) on May 22, it will be 10 degrees east of the sun and will follow it below the western horizon by about 55 minutes.Using binoculars, begin looking a quarter hour after sundown, low in the west-northwest. By May 25, a magnitude -1.1 Mercury should be an easy naked-eye object. By the end of May, it will be obvious to spot, around 45 minutes after sunset, a negative magnitude “star” sitting …
