What's that spot next to the Moon?
Venus. Two days ago, the crescent Moon slowly drifted past Venus, appearing
within just one degree at its closest. This
conjunction, though, was just one of several photographic adventures for our Moon this month (
moon-th), because, for one, a partial solar eclipse occurred just a few days before, on July 12. Currently, the Moon appears to be brightening, as seen from the Earth, as the fraction of its face illuminated by the Sun continues to increase. In a few days, the Moon will appear more than half full, and therefore be in its
gibbous phase. Next week the face of
the Moon that always faces
the Earth will become, as viewed from the Earth, completely illuminated by
the Sun. Even this full phase will bring an adventure, though, as a total eclipse of this
Thunder Moon will occur on July 27. Don't worry about
our Luna getting tired, though, because she'll be new again next month (moon-th) -- August 11 to be exact -- just as she causes another partial eclipse of the Sun. Pictured,
Venus and the Moon were captured from
Cannon Beach above a rock formation off the
Oregon (
USA) coast known as
the Needles. About an hour after this image was taken, the spin of the Earth caused both Venus and the Moon to set.