Cresent Moon with Two Stars/Planets

stars-and-moon

Silhouette with Moon and Stars

Daily Photo

Twilight last night and again tonight should be beautiful.  Look to your Southwest.  There a waxing crescent moon will smile below the shining lights of Jupiter (the brightest) and Venus. Take a few minutes and breathe the cool air and feel the quiet of the evening settle over our part of the planet.

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Earth & Sky, my favorite source for nighttime viewing events, talks about these two planets’ conjunction and explains waxing and waning moons if you need to bone up on your astrological vocabulary.

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33 Comments
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Indie
Guest
15 years ago

I saw the moon Friday evening, the thinnest sliver of a crescent moon. And when I left work late last night it was ice-cold outside and the sky was filled with crisp bright stars.

When I’m trying to decide if a moon is waxing or waning I think of the lyrics to the Cowboy Junkies song “Crescent Moon.”

Reach a hand to the crescent moon
Grab hold of the hollow
If it sits in the palm of the left
That moon’ll be fuller tomorrow

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Indie, that is a wonderful memory helper! I usually know because I watch the sky but sometimes when it has been cloudy I get a little lost. This will help.

Scott
Guest
Scott
15 years ago

thanks for posting the picture. The photo I took didn’t look nearly as good as yours. Hopefully, we’ll have clear skies at dusk to see tonights display.

Toni
Guest
15 years ago

Great capture, Kym. Love the blue of the night sky above the silhouettes.

Heather
Guest
15 years ago

I really wanted to see this, but, blowing snow got in the way – doesn’t look like weather’s getting better for Chicagolanders any time soon.

Ernie's Place (Branscomb)
Guest

So, can you tell by the shadow on Jupiter and Venus, which side of the sun they are? Astronomy types can.

Jen
Guest
Jen
15 years ago

That is just beautiful, Kym.

eric
Guest
15 years ago

Spent my days on the coast and my evenings on the road, heading home under a sight such as this. Very cool!

silverstar98121
Guest
15 years ago

Beautiful picture. Wanna trade place for a couple of days? You can take pictures of city lights, and I can take pictures of wildlife. The way I learned waxing and waning is that the waxing moon is a D for Diana’s bow, the waning moon is a C or crone moon.

forkboy
Guest
15 years ago

The childhood amateur astronomer so wants to do this, but the sky made leaden with clouds and snow has a different plan for me this evening.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Unfortunately, our sky has clouded up, too!

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

This photo looks like it belongs on a Christmas card. Love the deep blue and the two bright stars, as well as the moon and moonlight.

tam
Guest
tam
15 years ago

Fantastic shot. I saw this for only a second or two last night. We’ve had rain and a little light snow last night and today…it’s very cloudy here, to say the least. Thank you for sharing your beautiful view. It’s much nicer than mine. 🙂

Rosalie (hawaii)
Guest
Rosalie (hawaii)
15 years ago

Never seen anything like that before. Coming home from work i notice something different on the sky. And i stood outside my house for a momment and it’s looks BEAUTIFUL.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Tonight we had clouds but they parted for just a moment so I could see (though not photograph) the sight again.

beachcomber
Guest
15 years ago

I like the silhouettes of the trees and such. As I left campus tonight, I saw the moon and planet/stars but couldn’t find a good spot to catch a shot. Then I realized that, sometimes, my memory will just be good enough. I’m glad you were able to capture it, though.

06em
Guest
06em
15 years ago

Another good site is spaceweather.com

Here is a link to their (customized for your location when you type in your zip code) list of the next weeks satellites:

http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/

This week, with a clear sky and some binocs, you can even see the toolkit that was lost by the space station crew!

maggiescamera
Guest
15 years ago

I love the way the blue lies above the sillhouettes sky line as well as how the higher sky above it is pitch black in comparison. Great picture!

Fred Mangels
Guest
15 years ago

If you have a pair of binoculars, you can see a number of Jupiter’s moons, depending on conditions. Heck, I’ve seen them with the naked eye when Jupiter is close enough.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

06em, I bookmarked the site. It is going to be fun to use.

Maggie, Thank you (but aren’t you supposed to be studying;>)

Fred, If it is clear tonight, I’ll get out the binocs and see if I can see the moons.

Glenn
Guest
Glenn
15 years ago

Just the handy work of GOD (Signs & Wonders in the Heavens)
per GOD’S WORD.
Isn’t it Beautiful.

Sandi
Guest
Sandi
15 years ago

Beautiful shot. I was at the CR bookstore the other day and I was so tempted to buy a copy of Lightroom. I thought that’s the program you were using. It’s a great price for students so I might just add it to my “pre” Christmas list!

Staff
Member
15 years ago

I just was out looking out the threesome and they are beautiful. Sandy, yes I love Lightroom. You can download a free one month trial online to see if you like it. It takes a bit to get used to but WOW it is amazing.

josiah
Guest
josiah
15 years ago

somebody plz tell me wat this means?i saw this but the stars were much closer to the moon.actually right beside the moon.wat is the meaning?

Janice
Guest
Janice
15 years ago

Hi,
thanks for posting this photo and the link to Earth & Sky, as I missed hearing about the phenomenon and only saw a picture in the paper after it was past, but didn’t read what it was about. My mum reminded me of it tonight.

By the way, in your initial entry, you mean “astronomical” vocabulary, don’t you? (ie. you said: “if you need to bone up on your astrological vocabulary.”)
…astrological would be to do with the occultic/fortune-telling study of the stars… just thought I’d point it out, as people often confuse the two. 🙂

Cheers,

Janice.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Josiah, I’m no astronomer but the basic idea is that the moon rotates the earth at one speed on one path through the sky. The earth rotates the sun as do Jupiter and Venus on other paths. So the moon is not always going to be in the same place in relation to the planets.

Janice, I’m impressed. Not many people would notice that word choice. I’m a writer so I’m always choosing between words because of connotations they might have. I deliberately didn’t choose astronomical because it is also used to mean ‘too much’ as in “astronomical expenses.” I did dither about using astrological but I wanted to evoke a little bit of the mystery of the sky, the magic of it, so I chose the word that has an occult meaning.

And, astrological vocabulary includes waxing and conjunction. In fact, the study of the stars, astronomy, evolved from man’s belief in the relation of heavenly bodies to earthly happenings, astrology, so it isn’t any surprise both “sciences” (I use that loosely here) have much the same base vocabulary.

JasonC
Guest
JasonC
15 years ago

The moon with two stars besides it was meant to mean something bad was going to happen..our elders had said this woould happen…buyt the stars were closer like moon between the stars …friends and family seen this just days ago …(very strange to see two stars so close together with the moon they said)if something ever happens tell me about peoples i just wanna see if my people are right…by the way im north american aboriginal native man.

Sam Brown
Guest
Sam Brown
1 year ago
Reply to  JasonC

Hi Jason, I live in Australia. Back in February 2020 I was out with a friend in the Atherton Tablelands. It was around 9:30pm. I saw the crescent moon with two stars perpendicular to the centre of its arc. I thought it was very strange as there were no other stars visible in the sky. Then in March 2020, the world shut down with Covid-19. I see now it wasn’t a good sign.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Jason, Are you talking about a legend your family/people have told you? I’m not familiar with it. I would love to know more.

Mark W
Guest
15 years ago

here’s the shot I got of that conjunction:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7730590@N08/3076797436/

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Mark, you did a beautiful job. How did you get it so steady?

Mark W
Guest
15 years ago

same principles for shooting a gun. Breath control, steady solid grip and leaning up against a wall for support. tripod is sure easier though!

Staff
Member
15 years ago

I try to lean forward on car doors etc. but I don’t think about the backwards lean onto trees etc. I need to work on this.