Venus disappears behind crescent Moon in striking UAE sky event

Abu Dhabi: A rare astronomical spectacle unfolded over the UAE on Monday as Venus gradually disappeared behind the Moon, remaining hidden for more than an hour before emerging again.

The Al Khatim Astronomical Observatory, operated by theInternational Astronomical Center, documented the occultation on September 14, capturing the event in photographs and time-lapse video.

The phenomenon began at 2:34:59pm, when the Moon started to move across the apparent disc of Venus. It took two minutes and 21 seconds for the planet to become completely obscured.

Venus then remained hidden behind the Moon for one hour and 24 minutes.

The planet began to reappear from behind the lunar disc shortly before 4pm and was visible again at 4.01pm, bringing the event to an end.

The spectacle was made more striking by the appearance of both objects. The Moon was in a crescent phase, while Venus itself also appeared crescent-shaped when viewed from Earth.

The image provided by the observatory showed the two crescents close together shortly before Venus disappeared behind the Moon.

The event also offered a clear illustration of how Venus changes appearance when viewed from Earth.

Venus and Mercury, the two planets orbiting closer to the Sun than Earth, do not always appear as fully illuminated discs. Instead, their visible shapes change according to their positions relative to the Earth and Sun, producing phases similar to those of the Moon.

An occultation occurs when one celestial object passes in front of another from an observer’s perspective, temporarily hiding the more distant object from view.

In Monday’s event, the much closer Moon passed directly in front of Venus along the line of sight from Earth, making the planet appear to vanish before returning more than an hour later.