May 3, 2026: See the waning Flower Moon with Scorpius before sunrise and track Venus moving through Taurus toward Jupiter. Look for them during the nighttime.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Venus as an Evening Star
Moon, Planets
The moon is visible for most of the night following the Full (Flower) Moon phase on May Day. Brilliant Venus and Jupiter continue to appear in the western sky.
Morning Moon
Before sunrise, the bright gibbous moon, 97% illuminated, is nearly 15° above the southwest horizon. Use a binocular to spot Pi Scorpii (π Sco), 2.0° to the lunar orb’s upper right.
Evening Star
After sunset, brilliant Venus is in the west-northwest. Because of its brightness — the third brightest celestial body — the Evening Star is visible as early as 30 minutes after sunset, shining through bright evening twilight.
By one hour after sunset, Venus is nearly 15° above the west-northwest horizon, 6.7° to the upper right of Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star. The planet steps eastward in front of Taurus, heading toward the horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri. It passes between them in 10 nights.
Use a binocular to watch Venus’ eastward movement from night to night. Tonight, it is 0.6° to the lower right of Tau Tauri (τ Tau), a dimmer star. Tomorrow evening, it is 0.8° above the star.
The bright star Capella, the fourth brightest star visible from the mid-northern latitudes, is nearly 25° to Venus’ upper right. The three brighter stars are in the sky tonight as well. Sirius is low in the west-southwest, likely twinkling wildly. Arcturus is nearly halfway from the eastern horizon to overhead. Vega is less than 10° above the northeast horizon.
Jupiter, Gemini
Jupiter – the second brightest planet — is over 37° to Venus’ upper left. The Jovian Giant slowly moves eastward at about one-tenth of Venus’ eastward speed. Their conjunction occurs on June 9.
Tonight, Jupiter is about 45° above the western horizon, 7.6° to Pollux’ lower left, one of the Gemini Twins. It sets in the west-northwest over five hours after sunset.
Evening Gibbous Moon
The gibbous moon, 94% illuminated, rises nearly three hours after sunset. An hour later, it is over 10° above the southeast horizon, 1.9° to Antares’ lower left.
During the night, the moon appears farther west during the night from Earth’s rotation. During twilight tomorrow morning, it is about 15° above the south-southwest horizon.
Look for the moon during the nighttime hours, while brilliant Venus and Jupiter dominate the western and southern sky.
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