The Moon and Venus

Tomorrow morning, July 20th, a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 11% crescent a little over 4° from Venus shining at -4.0 magnitude. The pair will rise about three hours before sunrise a bit before 2am, look for the two above the brightening glow of dawn.

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction

The Moon and Venus

Tomorrow morning, June 20th, a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 18% crescent a little under 6° from Venus shining at -4.2 magnitude. The pair will rise about three hours before sunrise at about 2am, look for the two above the brightening glow of dawn.

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction

The Moon and Venus

Tomorrow morning, May 22nd, a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 15% crescent a little over 3° from Venus shining at -4.4 magnitude. The pair will rise about two hours before sunrise at about 3am, look for the two above the brightening glow of dawn.

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction

The Moon and Venus

Tomorrow morning, April 23rd, a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 12% crescent a little over 7° from Venus shining at -4.3 magnitude. The pair will rise about an hour before sunrise at about 4am, look for the two just above the brightening glow of dawn.

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction

The Moon, Venus and Mars

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter
A morning conjunction of the three brightest objects in the night sky, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter on the morning of July 15, 2012, the Pleiades star cluster can be seen at the top
This evening a pretty crescent Moon will slide past Venus and Mars in the sunset. The Moon will be a slim 16% crescent a little over 5° from Venus shining at -4.6 magnitude.

Look for the trio in the western sky this evening just after sunset, it will be nearly impossible to overlook. You have plenty of time to enjoy the show as the trio will not set until around 9:30pm.

The Moon, Venus and Mars

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter
A morning conjunction of the three brightest objects in the night sky, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter on the morning of July 15, 2012, the Pleiades star cluster can be seen at the top
This evening a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 9% crescent a little over 11° from Venus shining at -4.6 magnitude.

The Moon is approaching the pair of Venus and Mars, tomorrow will see the trio in close proximity, forming a triangle of about 5° separation.

Venus and Mars

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter
A morning conjunction of the three brightest objects in the night sky, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter on the morning of July 15, 2012, the Pleiades star cluster can be seen at the top
Over the coming weeks Venus and Mars will dance in the sunset. Close approach will occur on February 2nd, with the pair about 5° apart. They will remain in close proximity in the sky for much of February, finally disappearing into the glare of sunset around the end of the month.

On the evening of the 31st, a pretty crescent Moon will join this dance in the sunset, forming a triangle about 5° across. A 16% illuminated crescent moon with make a lovely trio with the bright planets.

The Moon and Venus

Luna & Venus
A thin crescent Moon and Venus in the sunset, photo by Maureen Salmi, used with permission
This evening a pretty crescent Moon will be located close to a brilliant Venus. The Moon will be a slim 12% crescent a little over 5° from Venus shining at -4.3 magnitude.

Look for the two as the evening sky begins to darken, they will not be difficult to find. Tomorrow the Moon will have moved 7° to the east of Venus.

Venus and Jupiter Reminder

A reminder that this evening will see the close approach of Venus and Jupiter. Watching over the last week we have seen these two bright planets growing ever closer in the evening sky.

The closest approach will be about 0.3° tonight, June 30th at 16:14HST. They will be slightly further apart several hours later at sunset.

This is the best opportunity to see the pair at their closest for observer in Hawaiʻi. If you want to see the closest approach you can also try to observe the conjunction in the late afternoon sky. Both planets are bright enough to see in the daytime.

After this the pair will separate slowly and disappear into the sunset glow together.

At their closest the two will be easily close enough to bee seen together in the low power view of amateur telescopes. It makes a fascinating sight to see the two planets together in the eyepiece.

Venus and Jupiter

The dance of Jupiter and Venus continues in the evening sky. Over the next few days we will see the pair drawing closer. Currently an obvious pairing in the sky after sunset, the two are just 4.5° apart today. With Venus shining at -4.4 and Jupiter somewhat dimmer at magnitude -1.8 it is hard to miss the pair.

The closest approach will be about 0.3° on June 30th at 16:14HST. Thus the evening of June 30th will see the pair at their closest for observer in Hawaiʻi. If you want to see the closest approach you can also try to observe the conjunction in the late afternoon sky. Both planets are bright enough to see in the daytime.

After this the pair will separate slowly and disappear into the sunset glow together.

At their closest the two will be easily close enough to bee seen together in the low power view of amateur telescopes. It makes a fascinating sight to see the two planets together in the eyepiece.