What does it mean for a star to be next to the moon?

Question

Why is it that tonight i saw the a star next to the moon

Answer 1

It's not a star, it's the planet Venus

Answer 2

Star Next To The Moon

Answer 3

Bright Light Next To Moon

Answer 4

I cannot believe I was standing in my back yard not 15 minutes ago looking at the moon and wondering what that unusually bright star next to the moon was. If that's not weird enough I remember thinking......hmmm I could probably ask that question on yahoo answers and no doubt someone would know. How cool that we were doing and thinking the same thing at the same time.

Answer 5

Saturday, May 19


Venus pairs up with the crescent Moon for a head-turning spectacle high in the west during twilight, and lower in the west after dark. They'll appear less than 2° apart for viewers throughout North America. Tell family and friends about this one — and use the illustration here to point out Pollux, Castor, and Capella too.

Answer 6

Mars is a red-tinged planet With a very shiny glow And if you look to see it You will find the moon in tow. The red planet will shine brighter because it will be directly opposite the sun, reflecting the most light, and fairly close to Earth, only 55.5 million miles away. The full moon will appear nearby, rising about an hour later. Mars will outshine the brightest star and won't be as noticeable in the sky for nine more years, The Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of Mars, which came closest to Earth on Dec. 18, but it will be brighter on Christmas Eve because of its position opposite the sun. "It will be a brilliant red light, "It is so bright it knocks your socks off." ___

Answer 7

You saw the planet Venus next to the moon. But they are really not near each other. Venus is much larger than the moon and much farther away but when you look out in space they are almost in the same line so they appear close.

Answer 8

The closest star to our moon is the sun, what you saw was the planet Venus. It may have looked as though it was close to the moon but it was many millions of miles distant.

Answer 9

This is a very popular question. What you saw is the planet Venus. When a planet comes very close to the moon it is called a conjunction between that planet and the moon. If the moon actually covered up the object, it would be called an occultation.

The Yahoo question forums are abuzz with this topic because Venus is so bright right now it looks like an airplane coming in for a landing. That happens from time to time.

The moon and the planets orbit the sun in roughly the same plane, like marbles of different sizes all tracing circular paths on a big dinner plate. So, viewed from Earth, one planet occasionally moves in front of another and "covers it up." As it moves along in its path, it moves away, and both things can be seen again. It can also get to be very close without being covered up at all (what's happening tonight). The orbital paths are not perfectly "flat" (like a dinner plate), however. Close, but not totally flat. So sometimes instead of one covering the other we see them get quite near, without the near one moving in front of the far one.

Now, you asked about "a star," and that star is not a star, but a planet, Venus. Other planets can also get very near (conjunction) or covered up (occultation) by the moon. Here's a link to a picture of Saturn about to be covered up by the moon:

http://www.dstrange.freeserve.co.uk/satoccult020416.htm

However, to take your question as you stated it: the moon ALSO covers up stars. Lots, and lots, and lots of stars. In fact the full moon pretty can wipe out the view of lots of stars all over the sky simply by overpowering them with its brightness. The moon also "moves over" stars and these are occultations of those stars. When the stars are bright enough, you can watch them pop behind the moon and then emerge again later.

But it takes fairly bright stars to be able to stand up to the moon and remain visible to the eye. So while the moon is covering up stars all the time, it only appears to cover up a bright star every now and then.

I have noticed in many children's books pictures of the moon with lots of stars nearby. That doesn't happen (much) in real life. There are a very few bright stars that can be seen near a full moon. If the moon is crescent, you can see some stars near it, because it is less bright. But when the moon is full there are very few things that will be viewable near it. It's bright light clears out a huge chunk of the sky. (The sun clears the entire sky of stars viewable by the naked eye, and is thousands of times brighter than the moon; but the moon is pretty good at outshining stars and flooding the sky with light that blots them out).

In big urban areas, people can see the moon, but they can't see very many stars, ever. Then up comes Venus in one of these super-bright (but normal) periods that Venus has from time to time, and all of a sudden here's this thing that you can see as easily as the moon. So people want to know what that is. Then when it's right next to the moon, they want to know what that is all about too: they think it's unusual. And for them it is because one can hardly ever see what's going on in the sky from urban areas.

But for those who pay attention to the sky the conjunction of the moon and a planet is a very normal event. The occultation of a planet by the moon is a fairly normal event. The occultation (or hiding) of stars by the moon is happening all the time. It's just that if you live in the city and don't watch the sky the current conjunction of Venus and the moon is going to be a very, very striking event.

Hope that helps. Keep looking up, there's a lot going on up in the sky.

Answer 10

It called a 'conjunction' of Venus and the moon..
Isn't it an awesome sight?


"The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure therein". - Inscribed in the archway of the door leading to James Clerk Maxwell's Cavendish Laboratory