Your Moon Guide for May 2026

When to See the Full Moon in May

There are two Full Moons in May 2026—making the second Full Moon a Blue Moon:

• May’s first Full Moon is at its most illuminated at 17:23 UTC on May 1.
• The second Full Moon this month will be on May 31 at 08:45 UTC.

The Moon always appears full in the days before and after peak illumination. Full Moon is the only phase where the Moon is up all night, with moonrise and moonset occurring around sunset and sunrise.

Moon Phase Times May 2026

Moon phases are divided into primary and intermediate: Primary Moon phases happen at a specific moment in time, while the intermediate Moon phases occupy the times in between.

Blue Moon in May 2026

The Full Moon on May 31 is a Blue Moon according to one of its two definitions. It will be the first Blue Moon in almost two years.

Most months have one Full Moon, but sometimes a calendar month can have two Full Moons. The second Full Moon is then defined as a Blue Moon.

The other definition of a Blue Moon is that it is the third Full Moon in an astronomical season with four Full Moons. The next Blue Moon according to this definition will happen in May 2027.

But May’s final Full Moon isn’t only the second Full Moon in the same month, it will also be near its farthest point from Earth—making it a Micro Blue Moon.

But First, a Super New Moon

Before the Micro Blue Moon shines in the night sky, an invisible Super New Moon will line up 358,593 km (222,819 miles) from Earth on May 16. A Supermoon occurs when the Moon is near its closest point to Earth.

Two weeks later, the Full Moon on May 31 will be 406,135 km (252,361 miles) from Earth, making it a Micro Full Moon.

As the name implies, a Micromoon can appear smaller and dimmer than an average Full Moon. But we won’t notice much of a difference, as it is only about 6–7% smaller. In fact, if you are looking at the Full Moon near the horizon, it will look bigger than a Full Moon high up in the dark sky. This is due to an optical mind-trick known as the Moon illusion.

Where is the Moon right now? Our Moon location tool shows you the Moon’s distance from Earth right now. Use the toolbar below the animation, or the menu on the side, to jump to different dates and Moon phases to find the Moon’s distance from Earth.

“Copy, Moon Joy!”

We have been obsessed with the Artemis II mission here at timeanddate, and—with what feels like the rest of the world—have definitely been feeling the “Moon Joy.” A quick search on the internet credits the term to several people at NASA, so let’s just agree that we all felt like we were a little part of the groundbreaking mission.

The Moon & Planets in May

Every month, the Moon completes one circuit around the sky, passing through the same 12 or so constellations that the Sun does over the course of a year.

Along the way, the Moon sweeps by each of the planets. This month’s notable close approaches are as follows:

• May 13 or 14, Moon-Saturn: Look for Saturn close to the Waning Crescent Moon. See what it looks like from Sydney in the early morning.
• May 18 or 19, Moon-Venus: Look to where the Sun has set under the horizon to find Venus next to a skinny Waxing Crescent Moon. See it on our Night Sky Map for New York and look out for Jupiter too.
• May 20, Moon-Jupiter: The Moon and Jupiter hang out. Other things to look out for are the stars Pollux and Castor—the “heads” of the constellation Gemini—and you can find Venus close to the horizon. See the view from London at 22:00 (10 pm) local time.

The above close approaches are visible from more or less any part of the world—we’ve included the examples from our Night Sky Map to give you a taste of the view from different cities.

What Do We Call This Full Moon?

The Full Moon in May is known as the Flower Moon after all the flowers that bloom this month in the Northern Hemisphere.

It is also known as the Budding Moon, Egg Laying Moon and the Planting Moon. Other names include Milk Moon, Mothers’ Moon, and Hare Moon.

Frequently Asked Moon Questions