Venus and the Crescent Moon Shine Spectacularly – Scheduled Viewing Times Coming Up
What's that glowing "object" in the sky after sunset? Stargazers worldwide have been blessed with the first spectacular night sky display of 2025 — a captivating merge of radiant planet Venus and a slender crescent moon.
Best viewed on Jan. 3, this celestial pair seemed to be a few degrees apart and dominated the post-sunset night sky in the southwest for a few hours before disappearing into the horizon. After the sun and the moon, shining Venus is the most brilliant astronomical sight in the night sky.
The enchanting encounter of Venus and a thin crescent moon will recur this year: jot down Feb. 1 on your calendar. Yet, there are numerous other attractions in the night sky in 2025.
Venus is growing increasingly brilliant as it moves closer to our planet next month. However, the petite crescent moon stole the limelight by displaying "planet glow" on its dark edge, and sunlight first strikes Earth before being bounced onto the moon.
This mystical spectacle — also known as Earthshine, Earthlight, and Da Vinci glow (named after Leonardo da Vinci, who described it in the 15th century) — can only be seen in the few nights preceding and following the new moon when the moon graces the night sky as a crescent.
Though it works both ways — intense moonlight creates shadows at night on Earth — planet glow is a result of sunlight reflecting off Earth's ice caps, clouds, and oceans.
Research carried out in 2021 revealed a substantial decline in Earth’s reflectance, or albedo, over the past two decades following a decrease in bright, reflective, low-lying clouds over the eastern Pacific Ocean in recent years. It's precisely where rises in sea surface temperatures have been observed due to the reversal of a climatic condition called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Moon, only 13%-lit, has started its latest orbit around Earth. The final day of 2024 observed our natural satellite as a sporadic black moon, the second of two new moons in the same month. A minor calendar anomaly, a black moon is a rare but inevitable consequence of a new moon every 29.5 days.
Meanwhile, Venus, shining brightly as an alluring "Evening Star," would soon cause another stir. On Jan. 18, Venus and Saturn would form a close conjunction once again, in the southwest, just after sunset. However, the second planet from the sun would shine far more radiantly than the sixth.
Venus is currently approaching Earth, which is why it looks brighter. Venus orbits the sun every 225 days and, in any eight years, seems to orbit the sun 13 times from Earth's perspective.
It will reach its brightest in our sky on Feb. 16, but if you have a small telescope, it's worth observing it before that as it shrinks to a crescent — something only inner planets appear to do, as seen from Earth.
On Jan. 11, Venus will reach its dichotomy, when it would be just 50%-illuminated. Between then and March 22, when it sinks into the sun's glare, Venus will gradually shrink to a crescent, just like how the moon appears to do. By the end of January, it would be around 40%-lit, and by mid-to-late February, it would still be easily visible in the post-sunset night sky, albeit at a mere 23%-lit.
Shooting stars were visible shortly after the sight of the moon and Venus faded. Caused by 2003 EH1, a secretive object that NASA claims could be a “rock comet,” the annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks with dozens of shooting stars per hour.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
- The first spectacular night sky display of 2025 featured a radiant Venus and a slender crescent moon, which appeared to be a few degrees apart and dominated the post-sunset sky.
- Stargazers should also keep an eye on Mars, as it will be visible in the night sky along with Venus and Jupiter this year.
- What is that bright star in the sky? It might be Venus, which is known to be the third brightest object in the night sky after the sun and the moon.
- The enchanting encounter of Venus and a thin crescent moon will recur in February, but there are numerous other attractions in the night sky throughout 2025, such as stargazing for venus and moon or even looking out for shooting stars from the Quadrantid meteor shower.
- For those with a small telescope, it's worth observing Venus before it reaches its brightest in February, as it shrinks to a crescent, a sight only the inner planets appear to do from Earth's perspective.
