Starwatch: Moon and Venus well met by earthshine
The moon and Venus meet in the evening sky for another dazzling display this week. The chart shows the view from London, UK, looking south-west at 1830GMT. From Sydney, Australia, look west. The moon will be only 14% illuminated and so will appear as a slender crescent in the twilight sky.
As the evening descends into full darkness, keep a lookout for the whole disc of the moon to become visible. This is known as “earthshine” and is created by sunlight bouncing off Earth back up onto the moon’s dark side.
Venus is now approaching its highest visible altitude in the evening sky for this apparition. It will remain there until the beginning of April. After that it will nose-dive towards the horizon, and by the end of May it will have disappeared into the glare. On 3 June, unseen from Earth, it will pass between our planet and the sun. It will then reappear low in the morning sky by the end of the month.
