Last night's alignment of the planet venus and the crescent moon was dubbed a rare occurence by astronomers worldwide. Well, I can't believe that I missed this sublime event and to think that six months ago, we planned the meteor shower gazing. I should have asked Z during lunch what to expect this week instead of talking about the election results. I guess Emma hosting the barbeque was serendipitous (left photo was taken from her backyward) because she changed the date from Friday to Sunday.
Astronomy Magazine had the date posted in their website with the following description "The 7% illuminated waxing crescent Moon will occult the magnitude +4.0 and 85% illuminated waning gibbous planet Venus for Asian observers during the afternoon and evening of 2010 MAY 16...Southeast Asia and Indonesia will be especially favored with an evening event...."
Here's another posting from a stargazer in India: "After sunset at 7pm one should look towards west direction to find Bright thin Crescent Moon. Just above it one can find Bright Non-twinkling object which is Planet Venus. Occultation of Venus on 16th May: On 16th May beginning 3.30pm. to 5.30 p.m. depending on location, people in India can notice called Lunar Occultation of Planet Venus in the skies. In which view of Planet Venus is obscured by Moon during its course of journey around earth"
Neverthelss, I am glad that Jenny pulled me out and pointed to the sky last night. The first thing that came to my mind though was the configuration resembled the Islamic flag's crescent moon and star. The origin of the flag dates back to the year 1453 when Ottoman Empire founder, Osman I, dreamt of a crescent moon stretched from one end of the earth to the other. "Taking this as a good omen, he chose to keep the crescent and make it the symbol of his dynasty."Well I hope that this is also a good omen for us in the Phlippines. The election results are now being disputed by losing candidates. Since Venus is the planet of 'love', maybe this is a sign for all of us to accept the results and move on?
i was quite intrigued with that rare phenomenon,especially with what is happening right now in the muslim world-just months after that occurence. im sure there must be some kind of meaning to that and i hope its a good one.
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