{"id":335719,"date":"2026-03-18T12:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335719\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:42:23","slug":"theres-a-chance-to-see-a-wafer-thin-moon-with-venus-this-week-are-you-up-to-the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335719\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s a chance to see a wafer-thin Moon with Venus this week. Are you up to the challenge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The angle the ecliptic<\/a> makes with the western horizon around sunset is maximised at this time of year, which gives us a good view of any of our Solar System neighbours positioned on the eastern side of the Sun.<\/p>\n

These would typically be the inner planets, Venus and Mercury, but the early phases of the Moon count too.<\/p>\n

\"PersonCredit: M-Gucci \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The reason this happens is all of these objects tend to sit relatively near the ecliptic, so when it\u2019s steeply angled with the horizon after sunset, so are they.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mercury is on the other side of the Sun as of March 2026 and consequently a morning object.<\/p>\n

\"BeBe under no illusions: hunting such a wafer-thin Moon is a challenge! Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n

Just before sunrise, the ecliptic makes a very shallow angle with the eastern horizon at this time of year.<\/p>\n

Try to locate Mercury in the east before sunrise and you\u2019ll see how a shallow ecliptic angle works: it doesn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

Mercury only just rises before the Sun and it\u2019s very hard to spot. (Mars, also in the morning sky at present, suffers the same fate.)<\/p>\n

Returning to the evening sky, where Venus is on show. It distances itself from the Sun throughout March and that steep ecliptic angle keeps it above the horizon for a decent time.<\/p>\n

At the start of March, it set 70 minutes after sunset, but by the month\u2019s end that increases to two hours.<\/p>\n

\"IllustrationIllustration showing Venus and the Moon setting on 19 March 2026. For a chance to find an ultra-thin 17-hour-old crescent Moon, catch the sweet spot after sunset when the sky has darkened enough but before the Moon gets too low. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/p>\n

The Moon is new on 19 March 2026, lining up with the Sun at 01:23 UT.<\/p>\n

This is early enough in the day for it to have distanced itself enough to be seen after sunset as an ultra-thin waxing crescent. But be under no illusions, finding that fine sliver will be an observing challenge.<\/p>\n

Sunset is at around 18:20 UT on this date (from the centre of the UK; the time will vary slightly depending on where you live), so we\u2019ll start the clock at the time the Sun actually sets.<\/p>\n

At this time, the Moon will be showing a phase of 0.7%, positioned approximately 8\u00b0 above where the Sun goes down and 2\u00b0 left of the Sun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now the tricky part: catching the Moon before it gets too low, but in a sky that has got dark enough to see it.<\/p>\n

\"ACredit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n

Please ensure the Sun has well and truly set before looking for the Moon, as accidentally viewing the Sun with your naked eye could damage your eyesight.<\/p>\n

At around 20 minutes after sunset, the Moon sits 5\u00b0 above the horizon. Venus should be visible at this time, 9\u00b0 above and left of where the Moon should be; that\u2019s a fraction smaller than the 10\u00b0 width of your fist at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n

At 30 minutes after sunset, the Moon will be around 3.5\u00b0 above the horizon, probably close to its visibility limit. If you do manage to view or photograph this Moon, well done.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll have caught the Moon at just 17 hours old!<\/p>\n

If you manage to observe or photograph Venus and the Moon, share your images with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The angle the ecliptic makes with the western horizon around sunset is maximised at this time of year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-335719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}