Watch Venus and the Moon ‘Kiss’ in a Rare Celestial Show Tonight

(TMU) — The full moon is often associated with love and romance and it just happens to appear in romantic movies at perfect moments like “the kiss.” To witness a rare romantic celestial “kiss,” cast your eyes to the night sky on Thursday, February 27 to witness Venus and the Moon meet—and kiss!

Providing the skies are clear, you should be able to see when the sliver of the crescent moon and a very bright Venus meet in the sky.

Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus is also known the “evening star” especially when she is bright as she currently is while she is furthest from the Sun. This period brightness is predicted to last until June 2020.

The Moon’s visibility on Earth is a result of the lunar surface reflecting the Sun. During its 29.5 days orbit around Earth we can see the various phases, waxing just as the new moon ends until full moon after which it wanes, repeating the cycle. This month, the new moon that fell on Sunday, February 23 was situated between Earth and the Sun and therefor not visible on Earth. A few days after entering the waxing stage as it travels around Earth, the Moon starts appearing as a thin crescent on one side, growing in small increments daily as sunlight reaches it. The growing crescent moon should be visible for several days.

Our Moon and the planets follow the same path through our sky, called an ecliptic. This is the plane of our solar system, and as the Moon travels it sometimes appear to pass planets closely.

Because of the vastness of our solar system, the “kiss” between the Moon and Venus is just an optical illusion. In reality, the Moon will be 249,892 miles away from Earth on Thursday and Venus will be 84 million miles away. Nevertheless, why not join them, along with a loved one, to share this rare moment just after sunset.

Should you miss this meeting between the crescent moon and Venus, the pair will meet for another brief encounter on March 28.

As the waxing moon grows to full moon on Monday, March 9, it will be the last full moon of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and known as the ‘Super Worm Moon’.

Enjoy!

By Jade Small | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com