What's Happening in Space: May 2025

A summary of space events through the month

The National Space Centre's Space Expert Dhara Patel is here once again to share her excellent round-up of some notable space and science events coming up in the weeks ahead...

Throughout May – spot the International Space Station

There may be sightings throughout May to spot the International Space Station (ISS) moving across the sky – use NASA’s Spot the Station to find out when and where to spot the largest artificial satellite overhead. It’ll look like a bright star moving relatively quickly across the sky (generally from west to east) and will be visible to the naked eye. There are daily sightings in the early morning from Leicester throughout the first week of May (perhaps the most practicable would be around 4:20am on the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, or 7^th May). You could also look out for other opportunities through the latter part of May.

Throughout May – Stargazing challenges

Each month, we'll be sharing a trio of stargazing challenges for everyone to have a go at. From spotting the Moon and familiar star patterns, to catching meteor showers and some deep sky objects. Check out our Stargazing Challenges - May 2025 blog for more details.

  5^th/6^th May – peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower

A moderate shower, with ~ 50 meteors per hour at its peak, produced by dust left behind by Halley’s Comet, the meteors from the Eta Aquariids will radiate from the constellation Aquarius (appearing in the east in the early hours of the morning), but will be visible all over the sky. Peaking between midnight and the early hours of the 6th, the waxing gibbous moon will be up throughout the night only setting in the early hours night, and the radiant will continue to rise higher into the sky during the early morning of the 6^th creeping above the eastern horizon around 3:00, so best viewing will be from a dark location in the hours just before sunrise. If you miss the peak, the shower is active between 19th April and 28th May. You can find out more in our blog about the Eta Aquariid meteor shower 2025.

11^th May – TRACERS mission launch

Currently targeted to launch on 11^th May, NASA’s TRACERS mission will take off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) is made up of two identical satellites that will orbit Earth in tandem (one following the other). The mission is designed to help us understand magnetic reconnection (when activity from the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field) along with its effects in Earth’s atmosphere, so we can better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth. TRACERS will rideshare with / launch alongside a few other spacecrafts: SPRITE, Athena & PExT.

12^th May – full moon (17:55)

Known as the Flower moon (according to the old Farmers’ Almanac), this full moon is named after the abundance of flowers that bloom as spring truly gets underway. Check out the Full Moon: Full Facts blog written by Mike Darch in our Education team to find out more.

27^th May - new moon (4:02)

The new moon will occur in the constellation of Taurus. The lack of moonlight interference provides a great time to try and view deep sky objects (especially with the aid of binoculars and telescopes). We have a blog on Moon phases written by Mike Darch in our Education team.

28^th May – Moon and Jupiter close in the sky

Look for Jupiter close to the Moon during the evening of 28^th May, in the north-western sky. The extremely thin waxing crescent moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Jupiter that afternoon but won’t be visible during daylight hours. But the duo should be visible with the naked eye after sunset as the sky begins to darken. However, by this time Jupiter will be very close to the horizon with the Moon sitting a little higher above it. Jupiter will set around 22:00 with the Moon going down about an hour later so make sure you have clear views of the horizon to spot them low in the north-west. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions.

  31^st May – Venus at greatest western elongation

Because Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth, it always appears close to the Sun in the sky. However, Venus will be at its furthest separation from the Sun as seen from Earth on 31^st May when it reaches greatest western elongation, making it a great time to try and spot the ‘Earth’s twin planet’. Look to the southeast just before sunrise – it will be low on the horizon, so a good clear view without tall buildings and trees will be helpful. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog above to find out more about greatest elongations and other astronomical phenomena.

May?? – Tianwen 2 mission launch

Currently scheduled for launch in May, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Tianwen 2 mission is set to return samples from near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa. This asteroid shares a similar orbit to Earth around the Sun and appears to orbit Earth. It is a small, near-Earth asteroid, likely a fragment blasted from the Moon's Giordano Bruno crater. The mission aims to collect about 1kg of samples from its surface using both touch-and-go and anchor-and-drill approaches. After delivering the samples back to Earth (around 2.5 years after launch), the main spacecraft will continue its mission by rerouting to comet 311P/PANSTARRS, arriving around seven years later. Tianwen 2 will take off on a Long March rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China and represents China's first asteroid sample return mission and its first dual-target mission exploring both an asteroid and a comet.

Please note: As this summary is created at the end of the month before, dates (especially launch dates) can often change or be updated, so this content may become outdated - we always recommend checking on the relevant organisation's pages.