Celestial Charm: Catch the Enchanting Dance of Venus and the Crescent Moon!

What is that bright “light” in the atmosphere after dusk? Stargazers around the globe have been treated to the first spectacular night sky view of 2025 — a scene featuring the bright planet Venus and a graceful crescent moon.

Most optimally viewed on Jan. 3, the pair seemed to be just a few degrees apart and dominated the post-sunset horizon in the southwest for several hours before disappearing below the skyline. Following the sun and the moon, the planet Venus is the most luminous celestial object in the evening sky.

The close pairing of Venus and a crescent moon will be observable again this year: jot down Saturday, Feb. 1, in your calendars. Nevertheless, there are several other highlights in the night sky throughout 2025.

Venus is gleaming vibrantly as it nears its closest point to Earth next month. However, the elegant crescent moon stole the show by showcasing “planet-shine” on its darker edge, with sunlight first hitting Earth before being reflected onto the moon.

This enchanting view — also referred to as Earthshine, Earthlight, and Da Vinci glow (after Leonardo da Vinci, who described it in the 15th century) — can only be observed during the few nights surrounding the new moon, when the moon is visible in the night sky as a crescent.

Although the effect works in both directions — strong moonlight creates shadows at night on Earth — planet shine results from sunlight reflecting off Earth’s ice caps, clouds, and oceans.

Studies conducted in 2021 highlighted a notable decrease in Earth’s reflectance, or albedo, over the previous 20 years, attributed to a reduction in bright, reflective, low-lying clouds above the eastern Pacific Ocean in recent years. This region has also recorded rises in sea surface temperatures due to the reversal of a climatic phenomenon known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.

The moon, dimly lit at just 13%, is currently journeying through its latest orbit around the Earth. The last day of 2024 witnessed our natural satellite as a rare black moon, being the second new moon in that month. A quirk of the calendar, a black moon is an unusual but predictable result of a new moon occurring every 29.5 days.

Venus, on the other hand — appearing as a radiant “Evening Star” — is poised to create another spectacle. On Saturday, Jan. 18, Venus and Saturn will be in close conjunction, again in the southwest, shortly after sunset. However, the second planet from the sun will shine significantly more brightly than the sixth.

Venus is currently drawing nearer to Earth, hence it appears increasingly bright. Venus completes its orbit around the sun every 225 days and appears to revolve around the sun 13 times from Earth’s perspective within any eight years.

It will achieve its peak brightness in Earth’s sky on Feb. 16, but if you possess a small telescope, it is advisable to observe it before then as it transitions to a crescent — a phenomenon visible only for inner planets from Earth’s viewpoint.

On Jan. 11, Venus will arrive at its dichotomy, when it will be merely 50%-illuminated. During the period between then and March 22, when it will fade into the sun’s reflection, Venus will progressively diminish to a crescent, mirroring the moon’s appearance. By the end of January, it will be roughly 40%-lit and just 23%-lit by mid-to-late February, while it remains easily observable in the post-sunset night sky.

Shooting stars were visible shortly after the view of the moon and Venus faded. Triggered by the 2003 EH1, a mysterious entity that NASA suggests could be a “rock comet,” the yearly Quadrantid meteor shower peaks with numerous shooting stars per hour.

Wishing you unobstructed skies and attentive eyes.