Very young moon opportunity 14 May in Northern Hemisphere

[Madweasel]

Hi all, on a couple of occasions I've had a go at photographing a very thin crescent moon. I thought I'd alert everyone to an opportunity coming up on 14 May, when from UK it should be possible to pick up a 19-hr old moon just after sunset (24 hrs old from Eastern US). The angles of the moon's path against the horizon make this about the best time of year from mid-northern latitudes for this sort of chance. Later in the year the moon is always too low in the sky when very young.

If there's any chance of seeing the sky I'll be having a go - not very likely in UK, but it can happen. You'll need a good horizon as at sunset the moon will only be about 7 degrees high and will be setting only about an hour or so after the sun. Good luck, and post your images in the sharing section.

[SteveInNZ]

Looks like it will be sitting right next to M45 too. Could be a nice shot. Good luck.

Steve.

[Adrena1in]

I've been going to a couple of good observing sites in the New Forest recently, but I should actually be able to get fairly decent horizons to the west very near where I live...but sadly I don't think the conditions are going to be any good...looks like this Wednesday is the only clear forecast so far.

[Madweasel]

Boo hoo! I just spent 90 minutes scanning the horizon with my binoculars and getting cold and never found the thin moon. The sky was pretty good for the UK, but there was some haze and a bit of cloud down on the horizon. I guess as you look for thinner crescents, the moon quickly gets fainter and it's in brighter sky. I thought I should be able to see it, but I didn't. I'm so disappointed!

[naddieuk]

I used Stellarium to see where the moon should be and was ready. Unfortunately I have a high horizon of 5 degrees, so I had a limited time in which to find it. The other unfortunate thing was that there was a small length of cloud just where the moon should have been. The rest of the sky was clear. I guess it was not meant to be. It only cleared when the moon would just have gone below my high horizon behind the trees. I guess it was not meant to be. :(