Last night at twilight two uncommon and beautiful things happened in our southwestern sky. First, we had what some astronomers call “the old moon in the young moon’s arms.”
That is, the dark portion of the crescent new moon was visible within a blue glow. Leonardo da Vinci was the first to realize that this phenomenon happens when the Earth infrequently comes into a position to reflect sun back onto the moon – earthshine cleaving with moonshine in the twilight. The phenomenon reportedly will happen again on January 28, 2020.
Second, and at the same time last night, Venus and the sculpted new moon posed together for an uncommon portrait.
At this time of year, Venus often is called “The Evening Star” because it is trailing the sun and rises to us brightly in the west soon after the sun goes down. When Venus orbits on the other side of the sun, it rises to us in the east near dawn and is called “The Morning Star.”
Of course, Venus is not a star; it is the second closest planet to the sun and within Earth’s orbit. (Brooklin, Maine)