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Moon is waning, but Venus is waxing!

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Today's Image | November 4, 2018

Venus is near the waning moon early this week. Yet if you followed Venus with a telescope in the coming weeks, you’d find it’s a waxing, not a waning, crescent.


Dennis Chabot of POSNE NightSky caught Venus in the east before dawn on the morning of November 4, 2018. Telescopically, you can see that Venus is a crescent. That’s because it passed between us and the sun on October 26 … and its fully illuminated side, or day side, is still facing mostly away from us.

Read more: Watch for the waning moon and Venus

The 2019 lunar calendars are here! Order yours before they’re gone. Makes a great gift.

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

Tonight

In mid-April, look west after sunset for Mars and the moon

Chart: 4 positions of crescent moon along steep ecliptic line with Mars, Pleiades, Aldebaran labeled.

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