Full Moon May 2027: The Flower Moon

The May 2027 full Moon, the Flower Moon, is on Thursday 20 May 2027 at 11:59 BST. It rises at about 21:40 in London, 21:55 in Birmingham and 22:30 in Edinburgh that evening, and looks full to the eye the night before and the night after. For the one coming up next, whatever the month, see when is the next full moon.

Why is the May full Moon called the Flower Moon?

The Flower Moon is named for the flowers that come out in May. The names are folklore rather than astronomy: most come from the Algonquian peoples of north-eastern North America, were adopted by colonial settlers and were popularised by the Maine Farmers' Almanac from the 1930s onwards. Our full moon names guide covers all twelve and the blue moons and supermoons that sometimes join them.

Full moon May dates: 2026 to 2028

The Moon takes 29.5 days to go from one full Moon to the next, so each year's May full Moon falls about 11 days earlier than the year before, then jumps forward again once a thirteenth full Moon has squeezed in.

The May full Moon in the UK sky

May's full Moon is low and the nights are short; by the end of the month the sky never gets fully dark in the north of Scotland. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks in the first week of May, in the hours before dawn. For what else is up this week, see the UK night sky this week, and check cloud for your postcode with our stargazing tonight tool before you go out.

Is the May 2027 full Moon a supermoon?

No. At the moment it is full the Moon is about 393,883 km from Earth, outside the nearest tenth of the Moon's distance range (about 361,500 km), the rule this site uses for a supermoon. The next supermoon is the Beaver Moon on 24 November 2026. Distances come from the same lunar calculation as the dates above; a supermoon is a matter of definition, not a different kind of Moon.

How to see and photograph the Flower Moon

• Watch it rise. Face east ten minutes before the moonrise time above, with a low horizon. Near the horizon the Moon looks enormous (the Moon illusion) and often deep orange.
• Look the night before or after if you want detail: at full the Moon is flat and shadowless, but a day either side the terminator returns and craters along it throw long shadows. Our Moon page says what to look for.
• Photograph it with a phone on a tripod or any camera: a moonrise over a landscape is the easiest astrophoto there is. Settings are in our guide to photographing the Moon.
• Save the faint stuff for new Moon. A full Moon washes out the Milky Way, galaxies and all but the brightest meteor showers; the darkest week of the month is around the new Moon, listed on our moon phase tonight page.

Kit for a full Moon night

Kit we've reviewed in full

No equipment needed for the Moon itself, but binoculars turn the bright disc into a landscape and a moon filter makes a telescope view comfortable. See our best binoculars for stargazing for more.

Best binoculars for the Moon

Helios Stellar-II 10×50

★★★★★★★★★★4.8

Sharp 10×50s that show the dark seas, the bright southern highlands and Tycho's rays, the features that stand out best around full Moon.

~£149

See price at FLO In stock at FLO Full review

First telescope

Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P

★★★★★★★★★★4.6

At 65× the Moon fills the eyepiece. The nights just before and after full, when the shadows are back, are when it looks its best.

~£194

See price at FLO In stock at FLO Full review

Tame the glare

Astro Essentials ND96 Moon Filter

★★★★★★★★★★4.8

Screws onto any 1.25-inch eyepiece and cuts the dazzle of a bright Moon so the detail comes through.

~£11

See price at FLO In stock at FLO Full review

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