MOON VISITS VENUS AND REGULUS + LUNAR OCCULTATION OF VENUS! – 19/09/2025

Early birds and all night stargazers will be in for a special celestial treat this Friday morning!

On the morning of Friday the 19th of September, the super thin 7% illuminated waning crescent Moon will appear close by to the super bright planet Venus and the bright star Regulus of Leo. This special celestial gathering will make for a beautiful sight in the morning skies and an excellent photographic opportunity!

Not only this, later in the day during full daylight, the Moon will continue to travel closer to Venus and will actually travel in front of the bright planet blocking it from view during an event known as an occultation! However, as this occultation will occur during full daylight this special event will only be visible to those with a good pair of binoculars or a telescope.

Look towards the East-Northeast at around 03:31 BST on the morning of the 19th of September to see the thin crescent Moon rise above the horizon. A short while later, Venus and Regulus will rise above the horizon at around 04:00 BST and 04:06 BST respectively. At this moment in time, the Moon and Venus will appear separated by around 3 degrees.

As the day progresses the Moon and Venus will continue rising higher in the sky travelling towards the South where they will reach their highest altitude of 48 degrees high at roughly 11:14 BST. From here they will begin to descend travelling towards the West where the Moon and Venus will set at roughly 18:34 and 18:31 respectively.

The Lunar occultation of Venus will begin at roughly 12:45 BST, when the Moon will travel in front of Venus. The occultation will last around 1 hour 20 minutes and will end when Venus begins to be uncovered by the Moon at roughly 14:05.

As this occultation will occur during full daylight it will require a good pair of binoculars or a telescope to observe. As the Moon will be a very thin crescent it will also be quite a challenge to find without the aid of an accurately aligned GOTO telescope mount system. However, if you don’t mind a good challenge, why not try to observe this special event?

As this occultation will occur during full daylight, the Sun will be in the sky and so great care must be taken to not look at the Sun with your binoculars or telescope. Looking at the Sun for even a brief moment using binoculars or a telescope can cause instant irreversible eye damage, so please take care to not aim your visual aid towards the sun!

There are a number of other celestial treats about at this moment in time too. Here is a small selection of celestial treats to look out for:

- We have a number of meteor showers active at this moment in time. So it's worth keeping an eye out for those beautiful streaks of light known as shooting stars.

- The asterism known as the Summer Triangle is a prominent asterism in our current night time skies and can help you find where to view our home galaxy the Milky Way. The brightest stars of the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila – the stars Deneb, Vega and Altair respectively, create a huge triangle in the night sky known as the Summer Triangle. They are located in a bright section of the Milky Way known as the Cygnus region. The body of the swan Cygnus also creates a cross like shape known as the Northern Cross. If you follow the length of the cross and continue tracing along the direction of this line, this can show you where the rest of the Milky Way stretches across the sky.

- The great Hercules globular star cluster M13 in the constellation of Hercules is an awe-inspiring sight when viewed through binoculars or a telescope and is also visible to the naked eye under favourable conditions. The glow from this Summer time treat (created from a super dense concentration of stars) is fairly easy to see in our night time skies and we recommend you try to find it with your binoculars or telescope.

- Our closest galactic neighbour, the amazing Andromeda Galaxy can be spotted to the eye as a small, faint and fuzzy elliptical shape in the constellation of Andromeda.

- We are now truly within what many people consider the Aurora season! Due to the skies becoming darker, chances of viewing the Aurora are now much higher and the Aurora may now be seen dancing on our Northern horizons on nights of strong auroral activity.

This September is also a fairly good time to spot other bright planets…

- The amazing ringed planet Saturn is now very easy to spot riding high in the night sky. Saturn can currently be observed in the constellation of Pisces just below the great square of Pegasus.

- The gas giant Jupiter is also now fairly easy to spot located in the constellation of Gemini during the early morning skies. Look to the East during the early morning hours and you will be able to spot the bright planet Jupiter.

If you would like to know more about the rest of the celestial treats that can be seen in the skies throughout September, please head to our YouTube channel to watch our Night Sky Guide video for September 2025.

We always love hearing about your celestial adventures and seeing your photographs! If you head out to witness or take photographs of this special celestial event or any other sights in the night sky, please feel free to share your stories in the comments below. 😊

This special gathering will be a beautiful sight in our early morning skies and the lunar occultation of Venus will be a very special sight for those who are able to observe it. And so if you are able to, we recommend you head out to witness these celestial events.

Good luck if you head out folks. Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Clear skies 💖

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