{"id":621311,"date":"2026-09-11T10:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621311\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:38:12","slug":"venus-disappears-behind-the-moon-14-september-2026-heres-how-to-see-the-lunar-occultation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621311\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus disappears behind the Moon, 14 September 2026. Here&#8217;s how to see the lunar occultation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Venus will disappear behind the Moon on 14 September 2026, from 09:30 BST (08:30 UT), in an event known as a lunar occultation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to say that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/occultation-astronomy-what\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lunar occultation<\/a> of Venus on the morning of 14 September will be tricky.<\/p>\n<p>From North America, the occultation won&#8217;t be visible because it the whole event happens when the Moon and Venus are below the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>Bbut observers there will instead be treated to a daytime conjunction of the Moon and planet.<\/p>\n<p>From the UK and the rest of Europe, the occultation begins when Venus and the Moon are below the horizon, but the final stages of the event will be visible.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1135\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/venus-occultation-september-2026.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration showing the lunar occultation of Venus, 14 September 2024. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-193043\"\/>Illustration showing the lunar occultation of Venus, 14 September 2024. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p>Observing the occultation<\/p>\n<p>The event takes place around 09:30 BST (08:30 UT), when Venus and the Moon are just below the horizon as seen from the centre of the UK.<\/p>\n<p>The Moon\u2019s 12%-lit waxing crescent rises just after 11:00 BST (10:00 UT), its thin appearance and low altitude making it initially difficult to find above the east-southeast horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This won\u2019t give you much time before Venus reappears from occultation at around 11:35 BST (10:35 UT).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/lunar-occultation-venus.jpg\" alt=\"A lunar occultation of Venus. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-193045\"\/>A lunar occultation of Venus. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p>From the UK\u2019s centre, the Moon is 3\u00b0 above the horizon at this time, so pretty low. On a more positive note, Venus will be bright at mag. \u20134.4, so it\u2019s definitely worth trying for.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you view the pair through binoculars or a telescope after reappearance, it should be possible to see the Moon\u2019s 12%-lit 30-arcminute diameter waxing crescent, along with Venus\u2019s 29%-lit tiny 36-arcsecond crescent.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you miss the occultation reappearance, just seeing both crescents together in the sky is quite special.<\/p>\n<p>The pair remain within one binocular field of view until they set at around 20:00 BST (19:00 UT).<\/p>\n<p>If you observe or photograph the lunar occultation of Venus on 14 September 2026, get in touch via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/mailto:contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venus will disappear behind the Moon on 14 September 2026, from 09:30 BST (08:30 UT), in an event&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-621311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}