Lunar Occultation of Venus: 27 May 2022

I was fortunate to witness the Lunar Occultation of Venus at 4:30 in the morning on Friday 27 May 2022 as the plane landed at Tbilisi Airport in Georgia.

On the evening of 26 May 2022, the planet Venus appeared next to the Moon, as observed from Earth. The Moon was in its waning crescent phase and only about 5% or 7% illuminated.

The best time to see this event, with or without a telescope, is an hour or two before sunrise, which is precisely what happened as I landed in Georgia.

The Moon passed in front of Venus, an exceptionally special event. It happens when the Moon is aligned to pass in front of the brightest planet which is only visible from specific locations on Earth – this time from south-east Asia (Indonesia in particular). It takes about an hour and 45 minutes.

The next Lunar Occultation of Venus will be on 24 March 2023. After that, it will occur 16 years later on 27 May 2039.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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