The May night sky

With starwatching in the northern hemisphere restricted by shorter nights, Jupiter rules the sky from dusk to dawn. Venus rules the morning in the southern hemisphere

Unless the focus is on our local star, the Sun, this month offers a contracting window for star watching. Effective darkness at the latitude of Manchester lasts for about 6 hours at present, but halves to barely 3 hours at the month's end, by which time night-long twilight bathes most of Scotland.