Thin Crescent Moon Lines Up With Venus, Mercury and Jupiter Over Brazil

Overview

• The event drew wide attention on Wednesday when a very thin crescent Moon appeared visually close to Venus, with Jupiter and Mercury nearby, and was captured in photos and videos across many Brazilian states.
• Observers in some localities recorded the Moon briefly occulting Venus, an event where the lunar disk passes in front of the planet and temporarily hides it from view.
• Amateur and professional measures reported a tiny angular separation between the Moon and Venus — about 0.16 degrees — while noting the bodies remain separated by tens of millions of kilometres in space, a figure reported by José Carlos Salerno.
• Institutions including the Observatório Nacional and regional observatories explained the phenomenon as an apparent conjunction caused by perspective along the ecliptic and announced continued public programming, including a live showcase of images on June 20.
• Astronomers said such planet alignments happen regularly but the combination of three naked-eye planets with a very thin crescent Moon and local occultations made this configuration less common, with the Observatório Heller & Jung comparing it to a well-aligned event in 2025.