The Crescent of Venus

From the photographer: “On the evening of the first day of spring in 2025, our inner neighbor planet Venus was visible as a crescent. It was close to the position of inferior conjunction, but at a distance of almost 8 degrees, so far north of the Sun that the planet was visible both in the evening and the next morning. Both images were taken with the same optics about 9 hours apart, once looking west-north-west on 20 March and then east-north-east on 21 March 2025. Heliacal setting and rising coincide, giving us a rare dusk and dawn spectacle that repeats itself in a similar way after 8 years.”

Technical details:
left: 400 mm | ISO 1600 | f/11 | 0,3 sec.
right: 400 mm | ISO 1600 | f/11 | 1/8 sec.