✪ Venus disappearing behind Moon and reappearing after some time
✪ Disappearing in a flash and also later on reappearing in a flash!
✪ Meditative experience- as if it was all dark and suddenly it was all light
✪ Watching Venus is possible even during daytime
✪ Wonders of sky make us humble
Hello. Our sky is a magic box and it has so many wonders. Whenever we look at the sky in a night, we get thrilled by its wonders. Here I would like to share one such thrilling experience and it was unique in that it was a daytime experience. During daytime, we can observe Moon and also sunspots by using solar filters. But we can also observe bright planets such as Venus and Jupiter in daytime. This lunar occultation of Venus (meaning light from Venus was obstructed by Moon for some time- i.e. Venus disappeared behind Moon for some time and then reappeared) had taken place on 24th March this year. But I could not write about it till now. So sharing this.
This event took place on evening of 24th March 2023. The sky was clear. The moon phase was in the waxing crescent phase- 3 days old. So when I went on my terrace to observe this, firstly I had to locate the Moon. I took help from some shadow of a wall and then tried to locate the Moon in the west side sky, just below the zenith. It took some minutes and some help from the shadow to locate the Moon! Even for this I had to take help of my binocular and then I could find the Moon. Once the eyes were used to day time sky brightness, I could also spot it with my eyes. A little 13% crescent moon it was. But interestingly, with binoculars, I could immediately spot the Venus. Interestingly, Venus was more bright than the Moon. Maybe as its angular area is much smaller than the Moon.
At sharp 4:05 pm, the Venus disappeared behind the dark side of the Moon in a flash! It was there and within a fraction of second it was gone. Due to very bright daytime sky, it was difficult to take a photograph. Even merely observing through the binocular was difficult. As the reappearance was at 5:45 pm, I took a break.
My video of a Lunar occultation of Mars- Mars is seen “rising” on the Moon.
