Explanation:
Brilliant Venus and a thin crescent Moon stood together
above the eastern horizon just before sunrise on June 30.
The lovely celestial pairing is captured in this
colorful twilight
skyview
overlooking a reservoir near Izmir, Turkey.
For some, the close conjunction could be viewed as a
daylight occultation.
While Venus is nearing the end of its latest
performance as planet Earth's
morning star,
the old lunar cresent, about 24 hours from its New Moon phase,
was also
bidding
farewell for now to the dawn.
In fact, for the next two nights a young Moon
can be spotted just after sunset.
Look for
a thin sunlit sliver
close to the western horizon, not far from bright planet Mercury.
