What’s up in the night sky: May 2023

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: Evening and morning planets, a meteor shower, and Mars visits the twins.

All month: Super bright Venus is in the west after sunset. Venus is the brightest star-like object in the night sky and hard to miss. Many bright stars are in the same area of the sky early in the month that will dip lower and lower as the days pass, while Venus remains fairly high throughout the month.

All month: Mars is significantly above Venus looking reddish. Mars continues to dim as Earth and Mars move farther from each other in their orbits. It passes near the twin stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux, over the weeks.