A celestial double feature in May — two full moons
By Avni Trivedi, CNN
(CNN) — Sky-gazers will be in for a treat this month with two full moons gracing the sky.
The first, which has the nickname the flower moon, will peak at 1:23 p.m. ET Friday. However, it will appear full Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, according to EarthSky.
It will rise low in the east at sunset on Friday, reach the highest point in the sky around midnight and lie low in the west before sunrise on Saturday.
“There’s a moment on May 1 where the moon will be at its fullest in the moment, but 24 hours before and 24 hours later, to the human eye it’s going to look full,” said Noah Petro, project scientist for the Artemis III mission, which aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since 1972.
May’s first full moon will kick off a series of three micromoons, when the new or full moon reaches apogee, or its greatest distance from Earth, according to EarthSky. The moon will be 249,180 miles (401,017 kilometers) away compared with its average distance of 238,855 miles (384,399 kilometers), according to NASA.
The second micromoon, referred to as a blue moon, will peak and appear fullest at 4:45 a.m. ET on May 31 before the sun rises.
It will be the second full moon of the month — a calendrical blue moon, when a month starts and ends with a full moon. It happens seven times every 19 years, according to EarthSky.
Petro recommends avoiding bright streetlights, tall buildings and trees to get the best view of a full moon.
“It’s going to rise right around sunset,” Petro said, “ so just have a little bit of patience and you’ll be treated to the spectacular view.”
More about the moons
The first full moon in May also falls on May Day, which represents the halfway point between the March equinox and the June solstice, respectively signifying the beginning of spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
The nickname flower moon comes from the Comanche tribe. It is a fitting name as the full moon arrives when wildflowers begin to bloom across much of North America, and especially in the Great Plains, where the Comanche are from. However, indigenous tribes have various names for this full moon.
The Potawatomi and Shawnee people refer to it as the strawberry moon, while the Choctaw and Creek call it the mulberry moon, as it aligns with the peak ripening and harvesting time for strawberries and mulberry trees, respectively. The Tlingit people call it the “moon before pregnancy,” with the successive June moon appropriately called the birth moon.
The name of May’s second full moon may suggest the satellite will change colors, but that is not the case. The term blue moon originates from a 16th century expression “the moon is blue,” referring to something that was impossible. In 1883, however, after the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia, people reported seeing strangely colored sunsets and a “blue moon,” according to Britannica.
It’s a rare occurrence, but those people may have actually seen a blue moon, as it can appear that color when Earth’s atmosphere contains dust or smoke particles that are slightly wider than 900 nanometers, according to EarthSky.
The Artemis II effect
The flower moon will be the first full moon since the Artemis II mission, which saw four astronauts take a 10-day trip around the far side of the moon in April. If you are still feeling the “moon joy,” a term the crew members often used to express their sentiment during the mission, this week is a great time to keep the feeling alive.
The astronauts captivated the world with their record-breaking journey and captured awe-inspiring images of the moon.
Even from more than 200,000 miles away, sky-gazers can appreciate the moon just as the Artemis II crew did.
“You can see things on the western limb of the moon, features that the crew described, like Aristarchus,” Petro said, referring to the lunar impact crater on the moon’s near side. “You’re a little farther away, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to capture some of the thrill that they had.”
Upcoming full moons
After the two full moons in May, there will be seven more to look out for this year, including supermoons in November and December.
Here is the full list of the remaining full moons in 2026, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
June 29: Strawberry moon
July 29: Buck moon
August 28: Sturgeon moon
September 26: Corn moon
October 26: Hunter’s moon
November 24: Beaver moon
December 23: Cold moon
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