01/05/2026
The month of May is a special one.
We see two full moons in May, usually we see only one each month.
Make sure this month while we take the time to reset for our upcoming second season of Moonlit Community Market Kyabram you take the time to look skywards to check out the Moon this month.
🌕🌕 MAY 2026 GIVES YOU TWO FULL MOONS. AND BOTH ARE SMALLER THAN USUAL.
Most months have one full moon. May 2026 has two. And the geometry behind this particular double is more unusual than it first appears, because both full moons this month occur near the Moon's farthest point from Earth. Two micromoons. One month. The universe keeping things interesting.
🌸 May 1: The Flower Moon · A Micromoon
The first full moon of May peaks on Friday, May 1 at 1:23 PM EDT, rising in Libra near the bright blue-white star Spica. It is called the Flower Moon across many North American traditions, named for the blooms that carpet the continent in early May. But this Flower Moon comes with a twist: the Moon is near apogee, its farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit, at roughly 406,000 km away. The result is a disk approximately 5% smaller and 10% dimmer than an average full moon. The difference is subtle without a reference point, but side by side with a supermoon image the distinction becomes clear.
🔵 May 31: The Blue Moon · The Most Distant Moon of 2026
Thirty days later, on Sunday May 31 at 4:45 AM EDT, the second full moon of May arrives. Any second full moon in a calendar month carries the name Blue Moon, a calendar quirk that happens roughly once every 2.5 to 3 years, the origin of the phrase 'once in a blue moon.' But this Blue Moon is even more distant than the Flower Moon: it is the most distant full moon of the entire 2026 calendar year, sitting even farther from Earth at apogee, appearing about 7% smaller than average and up to 14% smaller than a supermoon. It rises near Antares, the heart of the scorpion, one of the largest and reddest stars in the night sky. The cool silver-white of the micromoon beside the deep orange-red of Antares makes the May 30-31 moonrise one of the most photogenic sky moments of the month.
🌙 Why It Is Not Actually Blue:
The name Blue Moon has nothing to do with the Moon's color. It will look completely normal: silver-white, as always. Only unusual atmospheric events such as volcanic ash or dense wildfire smoke particles of specific sizes can scatter red wavelengths and leave the Moon appearing faintly blue. The term entered popular use through a 1943 Sky and Telescope article, and it stuck. Rare, not blue.
📐 The Math Behind the Double:
The lunar cycle is 29.5 days. Most months are 30 or 31 days. When a full moon falls in the first day or two of a month, the math allows a second full moon before the month closes. May 1 to May 31: exactly 30 days, just enough room. The next time a calendar month will have two full moons is December 2028.
🌌 A Three-Micromoon Streak:
EarthSky notes that May's two micromoons are the second and third in a three-consecutive-micromoon streak for 2026, with the previous micromoon in late April. Three full moons in a row at apogee is an uncommon alignment of the lunar apogee cycle and the full moon calendar.
Which moonrise are you planning to photograph this May?
