Now appearing as planet Earth's evening star, brilliant
Venus shines
in western skies at twilight.

Standing above a rugged horizon and warm sunset colors, the
twilight's celestial beacon was joined last Saturday by a
Moon 35 hours young in
this gorgeous skyscape.

The close pairing of
Venus and Moon is known as a conjunction.

Not visible in the frame, fleeting planet Mercury has fallen
from evening skies,
sinking deeper into the sunset glow below
the young crescent Moon.

The scene was captured while trekking in northern Portugal's
Peneda-Geres National Park.

Read the full story:
Young Moon Meets Evening Star

Related Skylook Posts:

• Moon and Venus at Dawn
• Discovery in Twilight
• Conjunction at Sunset

Brilliant Venus and a thin crescent Moon stood together
above the eastern horizon just before sunrise on June 30.

The lovely celestial pairing is captured in this
colorful twilight
skyview
overlooking a reservoir near Izmir, Turkey.

For some, the close conjunction could be viewed as a
daylight occultation.

While Venus is nearing the end of its latest
performance as planet Earth's
morning star,
the old lunar cresent, about 24 hours from its New Moon phase,
was also
bidding
farewell for now to the dawn.

In fact, for the next two nights a young Moon
can be spotted just after sunset.

Look for
a thin sunlit sliver
close to the western horizon, not far from bright planet Mercury.

Read the full story:
Moon and Venus at Dawn

Related Skylook Posts:

• Young Moon Meets Evening Star
• Planets Endeavour at Dawn
• Venus, Mercury, and Moon

There's something behind these clouds.

Those faint graceful arcs, upon inspection, are actually far, far in the distance.

They are the
Earth's Moon and the
planet Venus.

Both the Moon and Venus
are bright enough to be seen during the day, and both are quite capable of showing a
crescent phase.

To see Venus, which appears quite small, in a
crescent phase requires
binoculars or a telescope.

In the
above dramatic daytime image taken from
Budapest,
Hungary in 2004, the
Moon and Venus shared a similar crescent
phase a few minutes before the
Moon eclipsed the larger but more distant world.

Similarly, visible today in parts of Africa and Asia, a crescent Moon will again
eclipse Venus during the day.

About an hour after the above image was taken, Venus reappeared.

Related Skylook Posts:

• Moon and Venus at Dawn
• Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red (16 Jun 2011)
• Solar Eclipse January 2010

Earlier this month, Venus and Mercury
climbed into the western twilight,
entertaining skygazers around
planet Earth
in a lovely conjunction of evening stars.

Combining 8 images spanning April 4 through April 15, this composite
tracks their progress through skies
above Portsmouth, UK.

Each individual image was captured at 19:50 UT.

The sequential path for both bright planets begins low and to the left.

But while Venus
continues
to swing away from the setting Sun, moving
higher above the western horizon,
Mercury first rises then falls.

Its highest point is from the image taken on April 11.

Of course on April 15, Venus and Mercury were joined by a young
crescent Moon.

Related Skylook Posts:

• Moon and Venus at Dawn
• Scientists say “Huge changes coming to sun and Earth over next 7 years”
• Crescent Venus and Moon

I took this video with a Casio Exilim pocket digicam handheld over a 26mm eyepiece and through a Celestron C5 telescope. The Moon was in crescent phase and several important craters are visible. Celestron, NexStar 5SE XLT, 5 inch, Moon, craters, Universe, Astronomy, Astrophotography, Astrophoto, Astrovideo, Backyard, Telescope, Live video, Space, Science, 2011, videos, urban, sky, night

телескоп Celestron C5 Telescope, celestron c5 xlt

Related Skylook Posts:

• Waxing Crescent Moon through LB16
• M42 & refractor telescope – 720p HD
• ALIEN GHOST HUMANOID HIDING IN CAVE

As evening twilight faded on March 7,
sky gazers
around planet Earth enjoyed a beautiful pairing of young crescent Moon
and brilliant planet Jupiter.

Along with stars setting in the west,
the two bright celestial beacons, Moon above and Jupiter below,
leave short trails in this
well-planned time exposure, a composite of 54 individual frames
each 4 seconds long.

On its
final flight,
the Space Shuttle Discovery
and International Space Station form the second close pairing
in the night skyscape.

Still glinting in the
sunlight in
low Earth orbit,
they gracefully trace overlapping
arcs from lower right
to upper left.

Moon, Jupiter, Discovery, and ISS are
reflected in the calm waters of
Lake Bakonybél, Hungary.

Want to see the sequence of frames as a short youtube video?

Check it out here.

In the video, the trails of the ISS and
Discovery are seen to
separate as the pair passes above the Moon.

Read the full story:
Discovery in Twilight

Related Skylook Posts:

• Young Moon Meets Evening Star
• Atlantis Farewell from Parkes
• Endeavour Looking Up

This remarkable scene combines multiple exposures
recorded on the evening of January 18th from a waterside perspective in
Hong Kong, China.

It follows a young crescent Moon,
with brilliant planet Jupiter to its
left, as they set together in the western sky.

Their two luminous trails are faintly paralleled by
trails of
background stars.

But easier to pick out are the short, bright airplane trails
converging toward the horizon and the Hong Kong International
Airport that seem to offer a frenzied imitation of the
celestial tracks.

Of course, the reflection of city lights and boat traffic
follows the water's surface.

Streaking car lights define the
span of the cable-stayed Ting Kau bridge.

Related Skylook Posts:

• Hong Kong Space Museum – Basically Takes You Out If This World
• Young Moon Meets Evening Star
• Solar Eclipse January 2010