May’s full Flower Moon is set to light up the night sky on Friday 1 May, rising as daylight fades and climbing from the eastern sky toward the south-east as midnight approaches. It will cross the southern sky through the night before setting off to the south-west around dawn.
This year’s Flower Moon will be a micromoon, meaning it will look slightly smaller because it is near the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, known as apogee. When it becomes full, it will be close to its maximum distance from Earth, about 406,000km, or 252,000 miles, compared with roughly 363,000km, or 226,000 miles, at perigee for a supermoon. To the naked eye, the change is barely noticeable except in photographs, though a micromoon can appear a touch less bright than average.
The viewing window may be less than perfect. Low pressure in the Bay of Biscay is expected to drift closer to the UK's shores into Thursday and Friday, bringing a chance of showers, initially focused on western regions. That could mean more cloud in the night sky and fewer chances for an unbroken look at the moon.
If the Flower Moon is missed, there is another chance waiting at the tail end of the month. A second full Moon in a single month is known as a Blue Moon, and that happens once every two to three years. The Flower Moon name comes from Native American seasonal naming traditions and was later popularised through sources such as the Farmer's Almanac.
For skywatchers, the answer to whether Friday’s display is worth the effort is yes, even if the moon is a little smaller than usual. The better question is how much of it will be visible through the clouds.
