A mesmerizing video of the moon and Venus appearing to move together across a dark night sky over the Hawaiian island of Oahu has gone viral on Instagram.
The scene was captured in Honolulu, the state capital, in early December last month by Travis Shak, who shared the footage in a timelapse video from his Instagram account @nahoku808. The clip has had 308,000 views since it was shared on December 12, 2023.
A caption shared with the post reads: “The crescent moon & Venus rising over Honolulu on 12/9/23. I’ve always been a night owl but I convinced myself to get up early for this one.”
The footage shows a tiny circle of light appearing to move parallel to a crescent moon, rising together across the night sky, with the city lights glowing below. According to a message overlaid on the clip, the footage was captured between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. local time.
Venus is our nearest planetary neighbor and the second planet from the Sun. It is among the five bright planets—which also include Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—that are visible to the naked eye and are “constantly on the move,” NASA says.
Sometimes these planets appear in the morning, before dawn, while at other times they’re visible in the evening sky after sunset. “Occasionally they group together to form pairs, trios, or lineups across the sky. Add to that the occasional meteor shower, eclipse, or comet, and there are many thrills to seek out in your sky watching adventures,” NASA adds.
Sky watchers were able to also view “Venus rising with a slim crescent Moon in the southeast” earlier this week on January 8. Other moon and planet pairings to watch out for this month including one with Saturn on January 13 and 14, which can be viewed in the southwest for “a couple of hours following sunset on both nights,” and another with Jupiter, which will appear “high in the southwest” on the evenings of January 17 and 18, according to NASA.
The week of January 14 to 20 is a great week to get your telescopes and binoculars out as “the presence of the first quarter moon makes for great viewing opportunities as you sweep across the sky: exploring the Moon, then Jupiter and its moons, the Pleiades, the Hyades, and the Orion Nebula.”
One major celestial experience that you won’t want to miss this year is the total solar eclipse on April 8, which NASA says will be the last one to be seen in the U.S. for the next 20 years.
The eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean and cross North America, passing over Mexico and continuing across parts of the U.S. before exiting the continent via Canada. Eclipse enthusiasts in the U.S. will then have to wait “until August 23, 2044” to spot the next one.
‘Magical’
Several users on Instagram were blown away by the lunar sighting in the latest viral clip.
User majestic_flights said it was “Magical as always!” while jiandanpayza simply wrote: “Breathtaking.”
User fadaof6808 said: “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen today.”
User 805hiking said: “This is epic.”
User claire_m_hickey wrote “Wow! Very cool” and soniavm02 said: “Ascension Incredible.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via Instagram. This video has not been independently verified.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.