Daylight Occultation of Venus by the Moon

By Nancy Atkinson - September 13, 2010 at 11:08 AM UTC | Planetary Science

On September 11, 2010 South Africa had an amazing view of a full daylight occultation of Venus by the Moon, and

Kerneels Mulder

captured it, and shared it with Universe Today. He sent us this video created from the images he took of the event, and below is a composite look at all the images, showing Venus as it reappears from behind the Moon.

"The occultation happened in full daylight, with the Moon only 40° from the Sun, making it difficult to capture detailed images," Mulder wrote us. "Venus disappeared behind the dark side of the Moon at around 14:20 (GMT+2) and reappeared on the bright side of the Moon at 15:54 (GMT+2)."

Mulder said the sight was amazing. "With the naked eye Venus was easily visible as a bright dot close to the crescent Moon. The 3.5" refractor used during imaging showed an even more awe-inspiring view with both the crescents of the Venus and the Moon visible in the same field of view."

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com