See if you can spot this nice conjunction<\/a>, and catch Saturn marginally improving as May ends.<\/p> In the latter half of 2024, the planets will begin to improve considerably as we head into autumn and darker evenings.<\/p> In 2024, Saturn reaches opposition<\/a> on 8 September and Jupiter reaches opposition on 7 December.<\/p> Mars next reaches opposition on 16 January 2025.<\/p> For more stargazing advice, sign up to receive the <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong><\/a> e-newsletter<\/a> and listen to our weekly Star Diary podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Mercury is at mag. +1.2 on 1 May<\/strong>, but only rises half an hour before the Sun, so it\u2019s not particularly well positioned for viewing from the UK. A 5%-lit waning crescent Moon sits just 2.5\u00b0 from mag. +0.8 Mercury on 6 May, again poorly placed before sunrise.<\/p> On 9 May<\/strong>, the planet reaches greatest western elongation, 26.4\u00b0 from the Sun, where it will be shining at mag. +0.6. Unfortunately, not much improvement occurs throughout the rest of May, Mercury rising just 35 minutes before the Sun on 31 May<\/strong>, when it shines at a decent magnitude of \u20130.7.<\/p> Venus is currently a morning object, but is positioned too close to the Sun to be observed safely.<\/p> You may just catch a glimpse of mag. +1.1 Mars in the morning sky at the start of May, the planet rising one hour before the Sun on this date. The problem is, this doesn\u2019t give it much opportunity to gain altitude before the dawn twilight gets too bright to see it.\u00a0<\/p> You might have a better chance of seeing something on the morning of 4 May<\/strong>, when Mars is accompanied by a 20%-lit waning crescent Moon. Both objects will have risen above the horizon by 04:40 BST (03:40 UT), the Moon appearing 13\u00b0 west (right from the UK) of Mars. A closer meeting occurs on the following morning, 5 May<\/strong>, the Moon now at 12% illumination.\u00a0<\/p> By the end of the month, having brightened by a narrow amount to now shine at mag. +1.0, Mars rises 100 minutes before the Sun. Your best bet for finding it will be to use binoculars around 04:00 BST (03:00 UT) when Mars can be found 6\u00b0 above the eastern horizon.\u00a0<\/p> Jupiter reaches superior conjunction with the Sun on 18 May<\/strong> and cannot be seen properly this month. It\u2019s worth noting that mag. \u20133.8 Venus will lie 11 arcminutes from mag. \u20131.8 Jupiter at 10:00 BST (09:00 UT) on 23 May<\/strong>, but with both planets barely more than 3\u00b0 from the Sun, this conjunction isn\u2019t really a viable option for safe observation.<\/p> Returning to the morning sky after solar conjunction, Jupiter rises a paltry 20 minutes before the Sun on 31 May<\/strong>.<\/p> Uranus is lost in the evening twilight at the start of May and in conjunction with the Sun on 13 May<\/strong>, rendering it not visible this month.\u00a0<\/p> Morning planet Neptune isn\u2019t visible as it\u2019s currently lost in the dawn twilight.\u00a0<\/p> This guide to the planets appeared in the May 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Saturn and Mars are your best bets this month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":57870,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/04\/uranus-lost-in-twilight-jupiter-and-venus-hidden-by-the-sun-so-what-planets-can-we-see-in-the-night-sky-in-may.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Saturn and Mars are your best bets this month.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/57869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Planets in May 2024<\/strong><\/h2>
![\"The](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/04\/planets-may-2024.jpg\")
Saturn<\/strong><\/h3>
Mercury\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>
Venus\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>
Mars<\/strong><\/h3>
Jupiter<\/strong><\/h3>
Uranus<\/strong><\/h3>
Neptune<\/strong><\/h3>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"