May 21-24: The morning crescent moon passes brilliant Venus and Saturn before sunrise in the eastern sky before daybreak.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
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VENUS AS A MORNING STAR, 2025
Morning Moon Passes Venus and Saturn
The morning crescent moon approaches and passes brilliant Venus and Saturn in the eastern sky before sunrise.
An hour before sunrise, the Morning Star shines from low in the eastern. Find an observing spot with a clear horizon toward the east. Considerably dimmer Saturn is to Venus’ upper right.
Venus passed the Ringed Wonder nearly a month ago and the gap between them widens each morning. The waning crescent moon, completing lunation 1266, the number of lunar cycles since the count began in 1923, approaches and passes the planets on these mornings.
Earthshine
As the moon wanes, look for earthshine on the nighttime portion or unlit regions of the lunar surface. The night gently glows from sunlight that is reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land. The effect is brighter as the moon wanes to a thin crescent. From the moon, Earth’s phase is nearly Full, reflecting more sunlight.
Photograph the scene with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures of a few seconds or with a steady hand-held camera phone.
Highlights
Here’s what to see on these four mornings at one hour before sunrise:
- May 21: Venus, Saturn, and the lunar crescent, 40% illuminated, span 33° in the eastern sky. Brilliant Venus is nearly 10° up in the east, while the moon is over 20° above the southeast horizon. Dimmer Saturn is nearly midway from Venus to the moon.
- May 22: The crescent moon, 29% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the east-southeast horizon and 3.8° to Saturn’s upper right. Brilliant Venus is over 16° to Saturn’s lower left. (While Neptune is only 2° from Saturn and in the same binocular field, the sky is too bright to see the solar system’s most distant planet.)
- May 23: Again, this morning, brilliant Venus is nearly 10° above the eastern horizon. The crescent moon, 19% illuminated, is 6.6° to Venus’ upper right. While they fit in the same binocular field of view, each is near the edge of the field. Photograph this scene.
- May 24: The crescent moon, 11% illuminated, is east of the planets. Venus, nearly 10° above the east horizon, is 8.2° to the right of the lunar crescent. The Venus-Saturn gap is nearly 18°.
Look for the bright planets before sunrise. Watch the moon approach and pass them on these mornings.
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