The flower moon is May’s full moon. The next one is full on Thursday 20 May 2027 at 11:59am BST.
What is the May full moon called?
The Flower Moon. In the words of Royal Museums Greenwich: Many cultures refer to May's full moon as the flower moon thanks to the abundant blooming that occurs as spring gets going properly.
Watching the flower moon from the UK
By May a full moon stays low and skims the southern horizon, because the Sun is high and the Moon sits opposite it. Low moons pick up colour from the air, which is why May and June full moons often look warmer than winter ones.
From May onwards a British full moon barely gets above the rooftops. It rises late in the south-east, tracks low across the south and sets in the south-west, all inside a short night. That low path is worth planning for: a moon at ten degrees of altitude is behind a hedge from most gardens, and finding a clear southern horizon is most of the work.
How high the flower moon climbs
From Greenwich on the night of 19 to 20 May 2027, 10 of 2027’s full moons climb higher than the flower moon and 1 stays lower.
| Flower Moon rises | 8:30pm, south-east |
|---|---|
| Flower Moon at its highest | 12:27am, 14° up, due south |
| Flower Moon sets | 4:17am, south-west |
| Time above the horizon | 8 hours for the Flower Moon |
| Sun at 12:27am | 18° below the horizon |
Also in the May sky
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks in early May, but from the UK its radiant only rises shortly before dawn, so few of its meteors are seen here. Arcturus, the brightest star of the northern spring, is high in the south-east in the evening.
For May’s meteor dates and how much the Moon gets in the way, see UK meteor showers and the Moon.
What people get wrong about the flower moon
That May has one full moon. In 2026 it has two, and the second is the blue moon on the 31st. Anyone reading a twelve-row calendar this year is reading a table that has quietly lost a moon.
Searching for it? The plain phrase “flower moon” mostly returns the film Killers of the Flower Moon. Adding the year gets past that.
Flower Moon dates, London time
- 2026: Friday 1 May 2026 at 6:23pm (BST)
- 2027: Thursday 20 May 2027 at 11:59am (BST)
The 2026 flower moon time is from NASA and the Royal Observatory; 2027 is NASA only until the Observatory publishes.
In 2027 the flower moon falls on Thursday 20 May 2027. Why named full moons drift.
The flower moon in the sequence
In 2026 the flower moon is the fifth of 13 full moons. It comes after the Pink Moon (Thursday 2 April 2026), and the Blue Moon follows it on Sunday 31 May 2026. On the nights either side of the flower moon the Moon isn’t quite full: it’s a waxing, then a waning, gibbous, and the eight phases of the Moon explains both.
Any moon print can be checked the same way, flower moon or not: how to tell an accurate moon phase print.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .
