Moon-Venus alignment forms 'smiley face'
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 05/17/2010 11:05 AM
Updated as of 05/17/2010 11:37 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Stargazers were treated to a rare celestial show on Sunday evening as the planet Venus aligned with a crescent moon, forming what online users described as a "smiley face."
The rare phenomenon, called an occultation, happened because the crescent Moon was poised directly between Venus and the Earth, according to a Press Trust of India news agency report.
The last time this took place in Asia was in June 2007, and the next one will reportedly be on June 30, 2011.
The sky show was observed in parts of Southeast Asia a few hours after local sunset.
Larry Sessions of EarthSky.org, a forum and blogging community for scientists and science enthusiasts, said it is "not unusual for the moon to appear to pass close to Venus" since this happens about once a month.
However, the occurrence seen on May 16 (Sunday) is said to be rare because these events "are only visible in the evening sky half the time and then only for a short period after sunset."
"The apparent closeness varies from month to month as well," Sessions stated. He said North Americans will not experience an occultation of Venus until August 13, 2012.
7 comments:
nakita ko lang ang mga larawan sa facebook. sayang, di ko to nakita ng personal pero mas okay ung dating phenomenon na crescent moon tapos dalawang star na parang smiley lang. :D
too bad, i really did not see it. i just heard about it from Ann Curtis when our TV was tuned in Showtime.
too bad, i really did not see it. i just heard about it from Ann Curtis when our TV was tuned in Showtime.
I had been staring at this for an hour when it happened..so nice!
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thanks po!
i'm sorry.. i don't mean to visit very quick, but the connection of my computer got a trouble.
unfortunately, i couldn't saw the phenomenon because it was rain in my area, i'm not lucky..
by the way thank you for visit my blog, have a nice day..
i saw this nung nasa Subic kami. it was very eerie.
nasa Subic kami nung nakita ko 'to. it was super eerie.
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