According to Space, on the evening of September 9th, the crescent Moon, accompanied by the two brightest stars, Venus and Spica, formed an intriguing equilateral triangle in the night sky.
About 45 minutes after sunset, Venus appeared above the western-southwestern horizon, hovering closely to the right of the crescent Moon. Below them, slightly tilted, was Spica, belonging to the constellation Virgo.
The Moon, Venus, and the bright star Spica formed an equilateral triangle in the night sky on September 9th. Image: SkySafari
At that moment, Venus was more than 11 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The Moon, being on its third day of the lunar cycle, illuminated at approximately 11% brightness.
Venus is currently about 156 million kilometers away from Earth, while the Moon is only about 368,200 kilometers away. Therefore, it seemed to be moving much faster than Venus. As a result of this rapid motion, when the Sun sets on the evening of September 10th, the position between Venus and the Moon will completely change. The crescent Moon will have expanded significantly to about 19% and will be situated further eastward from Venus.
The remaining star of the triangle is Spica, which, although small, is one of the brightest stars in the sky. The trio of the Moon, Venus, and Spica together form an intriguing equilateral triangle. The twilight setting might make observing Spica challenging, but a telescope will be of significant assistance.