Exceptional crescent Moon expected above Swiss skies
Those who look up to the sky in Switzerland on Thursday evening may catch a glimpse of the Moon appearing in the form of an extremely thin crescent. This spectacle only occurs once every 18 years.
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Exceptional crescent Moon expected above Swiss skies
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The Moon will rise just 16.6 hours after the start of the new moon phase. “This is quite exceptional,” Thomas Baer, who writes articles for the Swiss Astronomical Society’s magazine Orion, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Only 0.7% of the lunar surface will be visible.
The show will begin at sunset. In Zurich, it will be visible at 6.37pm, in Geneva a few minutes later, while in Davos it will be a few minutes earlier still.
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“We shouldn’t expect the thin crescent moon to be immediately visible on Thursday evening, especially as it takes some time after sunset for the sky to slowly darken,” explained Baer. He recommends a little patience in the search and, of course, binoculars. The Moon will be below the horizon at 7.28pm.
Small boat
What’s more, on Thursday evening, the Moon will be almost vertical above the sun. It will therefore appear lying down, like a small boat, as it can usually be seen in equatorial regions.
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In northern latitudes, the crescent Moon generally appears on the left when the Moon is waning, and on the right when it is waxing. Another mnemonic rule compares the shape of the Moon to parentheses, i.e. characters: closed parenthesis ) means that the Moon is waxing, while an open parenthesis ( means that it is waning.
Translated from French with AI/gw
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