Starship Asterisk*

Moon Meets Morning Star

Explanation: Rising in the dark hours before dawn, wandering Venus now shines as the brilliant morning star. Its close conjunction with the Moon on August 13 was appreciated around planet Earth. But skygazers in eastern Asia were also treated to a lunar occultation, the waning crescent Moon passing directly in front of the bright planet in still dark skies. This composite image constructed from frames made at 10 minute intervals follows the celestial performance (vimeo video) from above the city lights and clouds over Taebaek, Korea. The occultation begins near the horizon and progresses as the pair rises. Venus first disappears behind the Moon's sunlit crescent, emerging before dawn from the dark lunar limb.

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WOW! What a perspective, great picture! The video is amazing! Taebaek mountains are stretching through North and South Korea and it's highest peak is 1,708 meters and South Korea will host the winter olympic games 2018!

Awesome! I very much enjoy these land sky and space combinations especially with the moon involved! And those brightened from beneath clouds…!

As I scrolled down my jaw dropped further and further - what a beautiful picture!

Excellent work Mr. Kwon! Very impressive

Absolutley stunning photograph, the clouds are my favorite part in both the picture and and movie, just mesmerizing how the fog moves. Thank you for this wonderful APOD!

I have studied the apod pictures since they started. Most of them are quite interesting, especially the explanations. It lets us see beyond our normal vision. What I don't see or hear is the explaintion of the very visible brown layer of pollution that is not supposed to be there. If we continue to not write about it and ignore it, it seems we think it's normal. Some people think it is just natural pollution but I have watched the brown layer of smog move out to sea in the morning then back onto the land with the onshore winds for over 50 years. The natural pollution that goes away on it's own is more grey, the pollution from fossil fuels is more brown. 50 years ago it was only near airports and cities, now it is all over the world. If you want the APOD pictures to benifit humans we should discuss the polution problem when it shows up on your pictures. I know it is not astronomy but if you continue to show pictures of the Earths atmosphere it should be discussed. I will continue to observe. Aloha, DWD

I liked the vimeo and the picture! I would have also liked the picture done in a single exposure showing only one moon and star.

Great sequence. Am I right to point out that this sequence, with the moon progressing more slowly than the planet, helps understand why moonrise is about an hour later each night/day than the day before? I've tried to explain this to my junior high students. This photo is a superb illustration!

David Dillberg wrote:I have studied the apod pictures since they started. Most of them are quite interesting, especially the explanations. It lets us see beyond our normal vision. What I don't see or hear is the explaintion of the very visible brown layer of pollution that is not supposed to be there. If we continue to not write about it and ignore it, it seems we think it's normal. Some people think it is just natural pollution but I have watched the brown layer of smog move out to sea in the morning then back onto the land with the onshore winds for over 50 years. The natural pollution that goes away on it's own is more grey, the pollution from fossil fuels is more brown. 50 years ago it was only near airports and cities, now it is all over the world. If you want the APOD pictures to benifit humans we should discuss the polution problem when it shows up on your pictures. I know it is not astronomy but if you continue to show pictures of the Earths atmosphere it should be discussed. I will continue to observe. Aloha, DWD

I agree with you. "Half of me" sees the Moon and Planets, while another part of me grumbles, "ugh, look at the air pollution and light-pollution".

Not a criticism of the beautiful photograph!

If we continue to not write about it and ignore it, it seems we think it's normal.

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OK, is it just me or does the line that the pair traces curve slightly upwards?

Last time I checked, the earth rotates smoothly and regularly, therefore the track should be perfectly straight. Is the earth's rotation now suddenly wobbling?

revloren wrote:OK, is it just me or does the line that the pair traces curve slightly upwards? :?:

Last time I checked, the earth rotates smoothly and regularly, therefore the track should be perfectly straight. Is the earth's rotation now suddenly wobbling? :!:

It is perfectly straight. But you normally can't project a straight line on the inside of a sphere to the flat plane of an image. Think about star trails- they appear to curve, and the closer they are to the pole, the greater the apparent curvature. But their paths are all straight, depending on how you define that, and what coordinate system you're using. And in this image, Venus has to come around to the same place the next morning (ignoring its slight shift due to its orbit). If the path was truly straight in the sense I expect you mean, that would be impossible. So its probably best to see each of these objects moving in a circle around the poles, since that's really how they show up in images.

Was there something significant that occurred at a time in Muslim history that coincided with a similar celestial event? One image in this sequence seems very like the crescent and star seen on many middle eastern flags, etc.

This image is very interestimg

deepstar1 wrote:Was there something significant that occurred at a time in Muslim history that coincided with a similar celestial event? One image in this sequence seems very like the crescent and star seen on many middle eastern flags, etc.

No. The Crescent and Star is an ancient symbol, found in many cultures (and may well be connected to Moon/Venus conjunctions). It was only adopted as a symbol of Islam in the mid-20th century.

Actually, the Moon-Venus occultation took place on the morning of August 14th, by Korean time.

Pegasus wrote:Actually, the Moon-Venus occultation took place on the morning of August 14th, by Korean time.

Yes, but as an event seen over much of the world, its time is best given in UT, and that means that 13 August is the best date to use, unless additional qualification is provided.

Chris: I get it, but the photo was of a particular perspective from South Korea (and could be seen in Eastern Asia), which was on the 24th for the locals. Just seems respectful when talking about that particular event, which was location specific, to use the local date.

Pegasus wrote:Chris: I get it, but the photo was of a particular perspective from South Korea (and could be seen in Eastern Asia), which was on the 24th for the locals. Just seems respectful when talking about that particular event, which was location specific, to use the local date.

Well... it would certainly be proper for the local press to report it that way. But when the whole world is looking at the image of an event that already occurred and was witnessed in many timezones, I'm inclined to think that using UT leads to the least confusion.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about that in this case, Chris. Thanks for replying though.