The Hindu : National : A rare spectacle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 22, 2004

National

National

A rare spectacle

By Our Staff Reporter

NATURE'S CROWNING GLORY: Those who saw the moon on Friday night, in Chennai (where this picture was taken) and other places, found it difficult to take their eyes off. Venus got in between the Earth and its satellite and the sight was spectacular. Did it look like the twinkle at the end of a smile? Or was it Alladdin's magic lamp? The Venus is set to transit the Sun's disc on June 8. — Photo: K. Pichumani

HYDERABAD, MAY 21. It was like an earthen urn glowing warmly in the night sky, the wick flickering in the night sky. Was it Alladdin's magic lamp? Could one rub it and bring out the genie and all the goodies of the world? This was the juxtaposition of the crescent Moon with the planet Venus and the spectacle in the sky brought the evening traffic to a halt as the City looked up in awe on Friday.

And what a sight it turned out to be! First, the crescent moon was like a single pencil stroke on the canvas of the sky, the Venus literally sitting atop it prettily and shining bright. As minutes ticked away, the moon's falcate turned thicker as if nature's artist wanted to emphasise and accentuate the mood further. And then, the star started cascading down from its high pedestal, as if in slow motion, and in no time, it travelled down below the crescent moon.

The phenomenon lasted one full hour.

"That was the crescent moon nearly occulting the Venus, one of the rare celestial phenomena. The occultation was not complete in Hyderabad unlike in other parts of Andhra Pradesh like Karimnagar. Venus on its own is a bright star and coupled with the crescent Moon, they made a beautiful sight,'' said the secretary of the Association of Amateur Astronomers, Y. Ravi Kiron.

Explaining the features of the phenomenon, he said the Moon takes 27.3 days to go around the Earth at 13 degrees eastwards incline.

The encounter between the Moon and Venus on Friday included an occultation of Venus by the Moon visible from parts of Andhra Pradesh. "Venus was visible as if it was perched on the disc of the moon. It was not occulted fully as was visible elsewhere," he pointed out.

P. Sunderarajan and K. Kannan report from New Delhi:

The director of the Nehru Planetarium, N. Rathnashree, told The Hindu , that ``the actual event happened in the day but it would have been quite dangerous to try and view it at that time. What the people saw in the evening was Venus re-emerging from behind the moon''.

She added that it had nothing to do with the Venus Transit which was due to happen on June 8. In the Venus Transit, the planet would be coming between the earth and the sun, whereas today the moon had come between the planet and the earth. Venus Transit is a rare phenomenon. The last time it occurred was in 1878. Lunar occultation of Venus, on the other hand, is a fairly regularly phenomenon. Last time it occurred was in April last year. It would occur again in November.

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