Venus and the Moon conjunct the “Seven Sisters” constellation in the Lyrids meteor shower.

On April 24, 2023, the crescent moon, Venus, and the Pleiades star cluster came together during the peak of the Lyrids meteor shower like a mesmerizing dance.

Sky lovers have witnessed a beautiful astronomical phenomenon.

When the Moon and Venus – the two brightest objects in the night sky – seem about to collide in a meteor shower, it all unfolds against the backdrop of a beautiful star cluster.

Venus and crescent moon taken on March 24, 2023 in China

The Golden Moon and Crescent Moon were taken on March 24, 2023 in Changchun, Talin Province, China.

Venus appears 6 degrees above and to the left of the crescent Moon, with Cluster of seven stars – a group of seven visible stars (and many other faint stars) commonly referred to as “Seven Sisters” – the same apparent distance under the thin, beautiful crescent moon, according to NASA.

For weeks, the Moon and Venus have been moving closer to where they appear closest in Earth’s sky. This phenomenon, which occurs every few months between the Moon and the other planets of the solar system, can be observed in the night sky. Of course, in reality, the Moon and Venus are millions of miles apart, and the Pleiades star cluster is even further away, 444 light-years from Earth.

Meteor showers occur when debris from a comet’s tail evaporates high in Earth’s atmosphere, causing the comet’s dust and ice to appear as a glowing trail of the warming atmosphere.

The fiery gullies in the sky created by the Lyrids – one of the oldest known meteor showers and first discovered in China around 687 BC – are fragments of stars.

Comet Thatcher’s cosmic debris stream has been seen from Earth for over 2,600 years and slams into Earth each April at 47 km per second as Earth’s orbit takes us past Comet Thatcher’s debris tail, according to NĄSA. Comet Thatcher moves slowly around the Sun, completing an orbit every 415 years.

Post source: Tien Phong