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Birthday · May 16, 2010

Crescent Venus and Moon

May 16, 2010

On your birthday, photons that left distant stars before humans walked the Earth finally completed their journey. You began yours.

Crescent Venus and Moon

A little universe, just for you

Your date.
Ready to give.

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APOD published May 16, 2010. Credit: Iv�n �der. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

Crescent Venus and Moon

Original APOD · May 16, 2010

There's something behind these clouds. Those faint graceful arcs, upon inspection, are actually far, far in the distance. They are the Earth's Moon and the planet Venus. Both the Moon and Venus are bright enough to be seen during the day, and both are quite capable of showing a crescent phase. To see Venus, which appears quite small, in a crescent phase requires binoculars or a telescope. In the above dramatic daytime image taken from Budapest, Hungary in 2004, the Moon and Venus shared a similar crescent phase a few minutes before the Moon eclipsed the larger but more distant world. Similarly, visible today in parts of Africa and Asia, a crescent Moon will again eclipse Venus during the day. About an hour after the above image was taken, Venus reappeared.

Image credit: Iv�n �der

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