Most celestial events worth watching are in the middle of the night, but many Canadians may be able to see a neat one sometime between breakfast and lunch today, weather permitting.
The moon will pass in front of the planet Venus in an event called an occultation starting about 8 a.m. PT and 12:30 p.m. ET. For those in the Yukon and northern B.C., that will be before dawn, but it will still be visible in daylight in the rest of Canada.
"Start watching at least a half hour early," says the astronomy website spaceweather.com.
Before the occultation, Venus will appear as a bright speck near the lit side of crescent moon — its appearance near the moon near dawn morning has already been captured in some spectacular images.
#Venus and the waning crescent #moon in the pink and blue early morning sunrise sky. #PEI #astronomy @islandmorning http://pic.twitter.com/p2eVrTtGon
— @DrummerBoy2112
The moon itself may be hard to find amid the full morning sunlight, but will be west of the sun and may be easier to see if you're someplace where the sun is blocked by a tall building, the astronomy news site Earthsky recommends.
The planet Venus was visible on top of the Moon over Quezon City, north of Manila, Philippines on Sunday, May 16, 2010. That's the side of the moon where Venus will appear today following the occultation. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)
Spaceweather says Venus should be easy to spot in broad daylight, but EarthSky suggests most people will probably need binoculars to find it.
Venus will disappear behind the crescent, then reappear on the other side of the moon almost an hour later.
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