Venus and the Moon offer a dazzling spectacle: “It’s magnificent”

This Friday evening, a star and a planet gave us a beautiful show. The Moon crossed paths with Venus, commonly known as the “Shepherd’s Star.”

Those who looked up at the sky at dusk, when the clouds cleared, were rewarded: they were able to see the young crescent Moon crossing Venus. Many of you have told us of your amazement at their singular brilliance. “It’s magnificent”writes Kelly via the orange Alert us button. This spectacle also generated astonishment. “My children ask me about the very bright spot which is next to the Moon this evening and which does not disappear”testifies a parent.

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Not exceptional, but still impressive

This situation is called a conjunction. It happens from time to time. “Astronomically speaking, it is not an event, but it is a curiosity, explains Gilles Robert, president of the Club Astronomie Center Ardennes, who explains the phenomenon. The eight planets of the solar system orbit in approximately the same plane. The Moon therefore gravitates on a plane which is close to it since it revolves around the Earth. When the Moon approaches this plane, where the eight main planets are located, there is a conjunction, a visual rapprochement“, he explains. Venus and the Moon then find themselves in the same field of vision. “It’s a little curious because we see the Moon and a big dot. It is indeed Venus, which is wrongly called the shepherd’s star. This planet shines very bright“, describes Gilles Robert again.

A stunning photo, made thanks to several exposures

The photo which illustrates this article was taken by a retired press photographer, Dominique Dierick, who is passionate about astronomy. So that we can see the bright crescent as well as the dark part of the Moon, but lit by the reflection of light from the Earth, he combined different photos using the Photoshop editing software. “It’s difficult to get the bright side of the Moon in detail, because it dazzles everything, explains the photographer. To also have the part of the Moon illuminated by the reflection of light from the Earth, we must combine different exposures. There I combined five different poses, it’s called high dynamic range images.”

Tomorrow, an even more exceptional event

Amateur astronomers are especially eager to observe the sky tomorrow. “There, a rare event will happen, which only happens every 15 years or so: we will see the planet Saturn disappear behind the Moon, then reappear. This is called an occultation and we must hope that the sky will be clear for so that we can see it”, declares Gilles Robert, president of the Center Ardennes Astronomy Club.

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