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By NASA
Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up What to See Tonight Meteor Showers Eclipses Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network 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.
I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.
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By NASA
Explore This Section Projects Highlights Publications NASA Citizen Scientists Science Activation Resources 2 min read
Amateur Radio Scientists Shine at the 2025 HamSCI Workshop
A collage of Posters from HamSCI’s March workshop. You can read them all online! Love Ham Radio? The HamSCI project fosters collaboration between amateur radio operators and professional researchers. Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities, encourage the development of modern technologies to support this research, and provide educational opportunities for the amateur community and the public.
HamSCI held its annual Workshop, ‘HamSCI’s Big Year’, at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in late March. Over 100 members of the HamSCI community attended: researchers, students (secondary through graduate level), and citizen scientist volunteers. Over the two-day event, in-person and virtual participants experienced twenty-five talks on topics ranging from analysis of HamSCI’s 2023/24 Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science events to space weather observations made during the May 10, 2024 geomagnetic superstorm.
The Workshop hosted a variety of Keynote and Invited Tutorial speakers, including distinguished scientists and leaders in the Amateur (ham) Radio community. The Workshop concluded with a poster session, featuring current research, ongoing educational activities, and concepts for future events involving Sun-space-Earth science topics. Posters were submitted from the US, Brazil, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.
Explore the workshop presentations and posters. Videos of conference presentations will be available at the HamSCI website in a few months.
HamSCI is supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) foundation.
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By NASA
What does the future of space exploration look like? At the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston, NASA gave student robotics teams and industry leaders a first-hand look—complete with lunar rovers, robotic arms, and real conversations about shaping the next era of discovery.
Students and mentors experience NASA exhibits at the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston from April 16-18. NASA/Sumer Loggins NASA engaged directly with the Artemis Generation, connecting with more than 55,000 students and 75,000 parents and mentors. Through interactive exhibits and discussions, students explored the agency’s robotic technologies, learned about STEM career paths and internships, and gained insight into NASA’s bold vision for the future. Many expressed interest in internships—and dreams of one day contributing to NASA’s missions to explore the unknown for the benefit of all humanity.
Multiple NASA centers participated in the event, including Johnson Space Center in Houston; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Langley Research Center in Virginia; Ames Research Center in California; Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in West Virginia. Each brought unique technologies and expertise to the exhibit floor.
FIRST Robotics attendees explore NASA’s exhibit and learn about the agency’s mission during the event.NASA/Robert Markowitz Displays highlighted key innovations such as:
Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems: A modular system of small robots and smart algorithms that can autonomously assemble large-scale structures in space. Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration: A team of small lunar rovers designed to operate independently, navigating and making decisions together without human input. Lightweight Surface Manipulation System AutoNomy Capabilities Development for Surface Operations and Construction: A robotic arm system built for lunar construction tasks, developed through NASA’s Early Career Initiative. Space Exploration Vehicle: A pressurized rover prototype built for human exploration of planetary surfaces, offering attendees a look at how future astronauts may one day travel across the Moon or Mars. Mars Perseverance Rover: An exhibit detailing the rover’s mission to search for ancient microbial life and collect samples for future return to Earth. In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator: A lunar bulldozer-dump truck hybrid designed to mine and transport regolith, supporting long-term exploration through the Artemis campaign. Visitors view NASA’s Space Exploration Vehicle on display.NASA/Robert Markowitz “These demonstrations help students see themselves in NASA’s mission and the next frontier of lunar exploration,” said Johnson Public Affairs Specialist Andrew Knotts. “They can picture their future as part of the team shaping how we live and work in space.”
Since the FIRST Championship relocated to Houston in 2017, NASA has mentored more than 250 robotics teams annually, supporting elementary through high school students. The agency continued that tradition for this year’s event, and celebrated the fusion of science, engineering, and creativity that defines both robotics and space exploration.
NASA’s booth draws crowds at FIRST Robotics 2025 with hands-on exhibits. NASA/Robert Markowitz Local students also had the chance to learn about the Texas High School Aerospace Scholars program, which offers Texas high school juniors hands-on experience designing space missions and solving engineering challenges—an early gateway into NASA’s world of exploration.
As the competition came to a close, students and mentors were already looking ahead to the next season—energized by new ideas, strengthened friendships, and dreams of future missions.
NASA volunteers at the FIRST Robotics World Championship on April 17, 2025. NASA/Robert Markowitz “It was a true privilege to represent NASA to so many inspiring students, educators, and mentors,” said Jeanette Snyder, aerospace systems engineer for Gateway. “Not too long ago, I was a robotics student myself, and I still use skills I developed through FIRST Robotics in my work as a NASA engineer. Seeing so much excitement around engineering and technology makes me optimistic for the future of space exploration. I can’t wait to see these students become the next generation of NASA engineers and world changers.”
With the enthusiastic support of volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and industry leaders, and NASA’s continued commitment to STEM outreach, the future of exploration is in bold, capable hands.
See the full event come to life in the panorama videos below.
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s annual Student Launch challenge will bring middle school, high school, and college students from around the country together to launch high-powered rockets and payloads. On Saturday, May 3, from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. CDT (or until the last rocket launches), student teams will convene for the agency’s 25th annual challenge at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
Hundreds of students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched amateur rockets near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, during the Agency’s 2024 Student Launch competition. NASA Live streaming will begin at 8:20 a.m. CDT on NASA Marshall YouTube.
Media interested in covering Student Launch events should contact Taylor Goodwin at 938-210-2891.
Winners will be announced June 9 during a virtual awards ceremony once all teams’ flight data has been verified.
Seventy-one teams participated this year; 47 teams are expected to launch in-person. Teams not traveling to Alabama are allowed to conduct final test flights at a qualified launch field near them.
Schedule of Events:
Rocket Fair: Friday, May 2, 2025, 3-6 p.m. at the Von Braun Center East Hall.
A free event for the public to view rockets and meet the student teams.
Launch Day: Saturday, May 3, 2025, gates open at 7 a.m. and the event runs from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (or until last rocket launch) at Bragg Farms, in Toney, Alabama. This is a free public event with live rocket launches. Please be weather aware. Lawn chairs are recommended. Pets are not permitted.
Back-up Launch Day: Sunday, May 4, 2025, is reserved as a back-up launch day in case of inclement weather. If needed, the event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (or until last rocket launches) at Bragg Farms.
About the Competition
Student Launch provides relevant, cost-effective research and development of rocket propulsion systems and reflects the goals of NASA’s Artemis Program, which will establish the first long-term presence on the Moon and pave the way for eventual Mars missions.
Each year, the payload component changes to reflect current NASA missions. As Student Launch celebrates its 25th anniversary, the payload challenge will include “reports” from STEMnauts, non-living objects representing astronauts. The STEMnaut “crew” must relay real-time data to the student team’s mission control, just as the Artemis astronaut crew will do as they explore the lunar surface.
Eligible teams compete for prizes and awards and are scored in nearly a dozen categories including safety, vehicle design, social media presence, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) engagement.
Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement hosts Student Launch to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM through real-world experiences. Student Launch is a part of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges– a variety of activities exposing students to the knowledge and technology required to achieve the goals of the Artemis missions.
In addition to the NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s Next Gen STEM project, NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space and Bastion Technologies provide funding and leadership for the competition.
For more information about Student Launch, please visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-student-launch/
Taylor Goodwin
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 29, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:02:01 ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass satellite has launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 29 April 2025 at 11:15 CEST (06:15 local time).
In orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle. It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the radar signal can slice through the whole forest layer to measure the ‘biomass’, meaning the woody trunks, branches and stems, which is where trees store most of their carbon.
Vega-C is the evolution of the Vega family of rockets and delivers increased performance, greater payload volume and improved competitiveness.
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