Challenging Moonhunting

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day at first, you might miss it, but focusing on central left area of the view along a cloudy western horizon near sunset, you notice a broken arc of a delicate lunar crescent. Captured in this dramatic picture on 2008 April 6 from Bretagne, France, the Moon was only 15 hours and 38 minutes old. Its slight, irregular, sunlit arc opens upward just between two layers of dark clouds. A crescent Moon in the early evening sky is a lovely sight often enjoyed by many. But finding the Moon when its slim crescent is still less than about 24 hours past the New Moon phase requires careful timing and planning, a challenging project even for experienced observers. In this sighting, only about 0.8 percent of the Moon’s disk appears illuminated. The photogrpher notes “this is the youngest Moon I have spotted in twenty years of skygazing”.