Get a great view of the Milky Way in Arizona on Memorial Day weekend. Here's the best time
Get ready to look up — the Milky Way will be visible in Arizona's night sky over Memorial Day weekend.
This awe-inspiring sight is a massive spiral of stars, dust and gas stretching over 100,000 light-years across.
With dark skies and clear nights in many parts of Arizona, the state is one of the best places in the U.S. to see the glittery Milky Way. Just head outside after midnight and look up.
If you want to know more about other celestial events in 2025, here's a complete astronomical calendar of all the full moons, meteor showers and eclipses, plus a list of all the comets that will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere this year.
You can see the Milky Way in Arizona throughout the year, but it will be especially visible from through May 30, including over Memorial Day weekend, when darker skies coincide with the new moon on May 26.
After May 30, 2025, the next optimal window to view the Milky Way in Arizona will be around the new moon on June 25. During this period, the moon's minimal illumination ensures darker skies, enhancing the visibility of the Milky Way's core.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way appears to rise in the southeast, move across the southern sky and set in the southwest, according to Weather.com. Remote state and national parks and Southwest deserts are some of the best places to see the Milky Way, thanks to their dark skies and generally minimal cloud cover.
The best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere is between March and September, with May through October offering the clearest view of the galaxy's bright core. For peak visibility, head out between midnight and 5 a.m.
Several planets will be visible in May 2025, according to Earth Sky. Venus will shine brightly in the eastern sky just before sunrise, with Saturn appearing above it in the early morning hours. Mars and Jupiter will be visible in the evening sky after sunset, though Jupiter will set earlier as the month progresses.
The Milky Way is technically visible every night, but whether you can see it depends on several factors. Bright moonlight, clouds and light and atmospheric pollution can obscure the galaxy's glow. The best views occur under moonless skies far from city lights.
The darkest city in Arizona is Flagstaff. In fact, it was the world's first International Dark Sky City, designated by DarkSky International. Flagstaff has strict lighting ordinances, minimal light pollution and nearby astronomy centers such as like Lowell Observatory and the Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center, making it one of the best places in the U.S. to see the Milky Way and other celestial wonders.
Got a story you want to share? Reach out at Tiffany.Acosta@gannett.com. Follow @tiffsario on Instagram.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Milky Way will shine on Memorial Day weekend. When to see it
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