{"id":368777,"date":"2025-12-25T04:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/368777\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T04:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:42:10","slug":"smiley-face-moon-wont-happen-but-see-christmas-tree-cluster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/368777\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Smiley face’ moon won’t happen, but see Christmas Tree Cluster"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve seen posts claiming a celestial “smiley face<\/a>\u201d will light up the night sky over Christmas, don\u2019t get your hopes up \u2014 it\u2019s not actually happening.<\/p>\n

Viral photos circulating on social media, including several Facebook posts,<\/a> show an image of the phenomenon, known as a triple conjunction, and encourage skywatchers to look for a special alignment of Venus, Saturn, and a thin crescent Moon that resembles a smiley face over Christmas evening.<\/p>\n

That would be undeniably magical, especially over the holiday, but the event is missing from astronomy calendars,<\/a> NASA guides and Astronomy.com<\/a>‘s “Sky This Week” column, presumably because it\u2019s not actually happening.<\/p>\n

For clarity, it\u2019s not that such an event is impossible. A real triple conjunction did occur earlier this year, on April 25, 2025 \u2014 but even then, social media exaggerated what the sky actually looked like.<\/p>\n

Another notable triple conjunction took place on Sept. 19, when a waning crescent moon, Venus, and the bright star Regulus in Leo appeared close together in the pre-dawn sky. The three objects were about one degree apart, forming a tight grouping visible across much of the world. It was notable for their proximity, but it did not resemble a smiley face.<\/p>\n

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While the crescent moon will be visible over dark skies this Christmas, the other planets or stars will not be in the right positions to complete a smiley-face alignment.<\/p>\n

Recent social media posts have simply swapped the month from “April” to “December”, claiming the smiley-face alignment will appear on Christmas evening<\/p>\n

That said, there is still something in the night sky this Christmas worth spotting \u2014 that it\u2019s sure to bring a smile to your face: the Christmas Tree Cluster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is the Christmas Tree Cluster?<\/p>\n

On the evening of Thursday, Dec, 25, as the constellations Orion and Gemini rise in the east, you\u2019ll find a lesser-known constellation in between them called Monoceros. Hidden within Monoceros is the Christmas Tree Cluster, a grouping of stars shaped a bit like a pine tree, according to Astronomy.com<\/a>. Nearby is the Cone Nebula, which appears to reach toward the top of the \u201ctree.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need a massive telescope to see it. With binoculars or a small scope, you can make out the cluster\u2019s brighter stars forming a rough triangle or arrowhead, with the brightest star at the base acting as the tree\u2019s trunk. Under slightly higher magnification, more stars pop out, and larger telescopes may even reveal the faint glow of surrounding nebulae.<\/p>\n

It may not look exactly like a perfectly decorated Christmas tree, but the star pattern is festive enough to earn its holiday name \u2014 a little sparkle in the night sky for those who look up this Christmas.<\/p>\n

What is the ‘Smiley Face’ moon?<\/p>\n

The \u201csmiley face\u201d moon is not a special type of moon \u2014 it\u2019s an optical illusion created by the alignment of celestial objects in the sky. The effect relies on a thin crescent moon, which naturally forms a curved shape resembling a smile, according to USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201ceyes\u201d of the face are usually two bright planets, most often Venus and Saturn, positioned above the crescent Moon. When these three objects \u2014 the Moon and the two planets \u2014 appear in the correct relative positions, they form a simple triangular arrangement that looks like a smiley face.<\/p>\n

The illusion depends heavily on your location on Earth. From some places, the moon may appear too close or too far from the planets, or the entire \u201cface\u201d might appear tilted on its side. The brightness of the planets also affects the visual impact, with Venus often shining much brighter than Saturn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve seen posts claiming a celestial “smiley face\u201d will light up the night sky over Christmas, don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[182,6626,6931,13541,13710,2250,10414,10719,35295,54813,21369,24903,15995,13543,3729,13555,32611,13545,13558,718,13547,13531,13549,13470,13560,32902,79,24899,193,13554,13546,13717,13542,13556,13692,404,2986,181001,3447],"class_list":["post-368777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ai","tag-astronomy","tag-christmas","tag-connect","tag-enabled","tag-events","tag-facebook","tag-highlights","tag-holiday","tag-holiday-marketplace-hub","tag-holidays","tag-holidays-u0026-seasonal-events","tag-hub","tag-know","tag-local","tag-local-connect","tag-marketplace","tag-modular","tag-modular-story","tag-nasa","tag-neutral","tag-outer","tag-outer-space","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-saturn","tag-science","tag-seasonal","tag-space","tag-space-connect","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-ttp","tag-ttp-what-we-know","tag-u0026","tag-we","tag-weather","tag-weather-connect","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}