Topline<\/p>\n
A beautiful full moon \u2014 the flower moon \u2014 rose into twilight skies on Monday, May 12, casting its bright light across landscapes far and wide. However, it was technically smaller than most full moons \u2014 a \u201cmicro moon.\u201d Here are all the best images from around the globe.<\/p>\n
The full moon is seen behind a silhouette of a man doing gymnastics in Erbil, Iraq on May 12, 2025. … More (Photo by Ahsan Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Anadolu via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Key Facts<\/p>\n
On Monday, May 12, the full flower moon appeared on the eastern horizon during dusk as seen around the world, having turned officially full at 12:57 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n
It was the second full moon of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Photographers timed their shots carefully to image it as it appeared beside buildings and mountains while close to the horizon.<\/p>\n
May\u2019s flower moon is named after spring flowers in the Northern Hemisphere, though it\u2019s also called the planting moon, hare\u2019s moon and milk moon.<\/p>\n
The name milk moon is an old English name. According to NASA<\/a>, an English monk, the Venerable Bede, wrote in 703 AD that what we now call May was the \u201cThree-Milkings Month\u201d because cows could be milked three times a day.<\/p>\n May\u2019s full moon is the fifth of 12 full moons in 2025, three of which will be \u201csupermoons\u201d (in October, November and December). September\u2019s full moon will be a \u201cblood moon\u201d total lunar eclipse, though it won\u2019t be visible in North America.<\/p>\n The full moon rises beyond artwork atop the Kansas City Convention Center, Monday, May 12, 2025, in … More Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved <\/p>\n The Moon In May<\/p>\n Beyond the full flower moon, there are plenty of chances to see our natural satellite in the night sky. After dark on Tuesday, May 13, the waning gibbous moon will pass within a third of a degree of Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, \u201cthe scorpion.\u201d On Monday, May 26, there will be a new supermoon as it stays out of the night sky but comes closest to Earth for the whole month while lost in the sun’s glare. It could mean higher tides than usual.<\/p>\n Artwork atop the Kansas City Convention Center is silhouetted against the rising full moon Monday, … More May 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved In the northwest after sunset on Tuesday, May 27, a slender crescent moon will shine just above bright Jupiter, while at the same time, on Thursday, May 29, a slightly larger crescent moon will help create a \u201csmiley face\u201d with bright stars Castor and Pollux \u2014 the bright twin stars of Gemini \u2014 as the eyes.<\/p>\n The full moon sets behind the St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Tuesday, May … More 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved The next full moon will occur on Wednesday, June 11. Known as the strawberry moon, it will be the final full moon of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere, astronomical seasons that will come to an end on Saturday, June 21, when the solstice occurs.<\/p>\n The full moon, also known as the Flower Moon, rises over St Mary’s lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the … More north east coast of England. Picture date: Monday May 12, 2025. (Photo by Owen Humphreys\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n PA Images via Getty Images A proposal by the White House earlier this month<\/a> would reduce NASA\u2019s current budget of $25.4 billion \u2014 around 0.3% of federal spending \u2014 to $18.8 billion. That would greatly affect NASA’s plans to explore the moon. NASA\u2019s funding peaked at 4% of the federal budget during the Apollo missions to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n Full moon rises behind Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkiye on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Isa … More Terli\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Anadolu via Getty Images Although the proposals underscored \u201creturning to the moon before China and putting an American on Mars,\u201d they will entail slashing NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon. In April 2026, NASA’s Artemis II mission will see four astronauts launch in its Orion capsule on its Space Launch System rocket and travel beyond the moon. The follow-up in 2027 or 2028, Artemis III, will see two astronauts land on the moon, though future missions are now in jeopardy.<\/p>\n The full moon is pictured from the MAS Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on May 12, 2025. (Photo by … More Luis ROBAYO \/ AFP) (Photo by LUIS ROBAYO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n AFP via Getty Images
\nWhen To See The Crescent Moon And A \u2018smiley Face\u2019<\/p>\n
\nThe Next Full Moon<\/p>\n
\nTrump Administration May Slash Nasa\u2019s Budget<\/p>\n
\nNasa May Curtail Artemis Missions To The Moon<\/p>\n
\nFurther Reading
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ForbesCongress Urged To Reject Trump\u2019s \u2018Destructive\u2019 NASA PlanBy Jamie Carter<\/a>
\nForbesNASA Urges Public To Look At Night Sky Now For \u2018Nova\u2019 LocationBy Jamie Carter<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline A beautiful full moon \u2014 the flower moon \u2014 rose into twilight skies on Monday, May 12,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[45446,34155,45445,45442,45449,45444,45448,70,413,16,15,45443,45447,29889],"class_list":{"0":"post-97574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-best-full-moon-pics","9":"tag-flower-moon","10":"tag-full-moon-photos","11":"tag-milk-moon","12":"tag-nasa-moon","13":"tag-next-full-moon","14":"tag-photograph-full-moon","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-space","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-when-is-full-moon","20":"tag-when-is-it-full-moon","21":"tag-when-is-new-moon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114499601519556520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}