The Moon – and what else?

The crescent Moon shines out in the evening of 23rd February, but there are three solar system objects in this image. After the Sun, the Moon is the second brightest object in Earth’s night sky.

The third and fourth brightest objects in our sky are present in this image. Can you see them? I doubt it, they are lost in the remaining glow of the sun as it sets. But if you know exactly where to look, you might see them.

Let’s zoom in a little, that always helps…

So, did you see them? No? They are there in plain view, but congratulations if you spotted them, it’s still not easy.

The third brightest object in our night sky is Venus, and you can see it near the bottom right corner of the photo – a little white dot. The fourth brightest object is Jupiter. It’s there to see as well, between the Moon and Venus, but a bit closer to Venus than to the Moon. See it now? (If you’re reading this on your phone you will need to enlarge the image.)

Later in the evening they are impossible to miss. The Moon is moving further away from this scene day by day, but Venus and Jupiter are getting closer to one another in the sky and are both very bright in a darker sky. Jupiter is also getting closer to the horizon and setting earlier and earlier as the days pass so if you want to see it, look in the next day or two. In April Jupiter will reappear in the morning sky before sunrise.

See also:

Watch Dr Becky’s Night Sky video segment for more detail (better yet, watch her entire video).

And for more detail on the three objects, take a look at Wikipedia’s articles on The Moon, Venus and Jupiter.