Tonight’s young moon emerges into the evening sky

Guy Ottewell originally published this article as a blog post at his website, Universal Workshop. Reprinted here with permission.

The young moon emerges into the evening sky tonight (May 9, 2024), as if peering jealously about at a bevy of her rivals in brightness.

The light the moon is sending to us at this time, expressed as magnitude -4, adds up to more than these stars put together. Yet, spread along the slender crescent, it makes for a lower surface brightness than the point sources of the stars.

So which do you notice first as our own sun’s light drains from the sky: Capella (magnitude 0.1), Procyon (magnitude 0.4), Betelgeuse (0.5 and, being variable, sometimes brighter), or the wispy crescent of the moon?

Or is it possible with a sudden opening of eyes to become simultaneously aware of all seven of these candidates for attention? A use of peripheral vision; it might be called a “wide noticing” trick.

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For more like this, visit Guy Ottewell’s Astronomical Calendar 2024

Bottom line: The young moon will compete in brightness with several bright stars on the evening of May 9, 2024.

Via Universal Workshop.