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The lunar occultation of Venus refers to a natural phenomenon in which the Moon passes in front of Venus, obstructing it from view on some regions of the Earth. Since the orbital planes of Venus and the Moon are tilted at different angles relative to the ecliptic, occultations happen infrequently. The last time this occurred was on April 7, 2024.[1] A 1996 computer search predicted that 101 lunar occultations would occur in the date range of 1995–2045.[2]
| Year | Observation |
|---|---|
| −124 | A Babylonian scribe reported observing Venus disappear behind the Moon on 4 September 124 BC. However, this report is considered unreliable as it occurred one hour and 20 minutes after sunrise.[3] |
| 503 | The Chinese Book of Wei records the lunar occultation of Venus on 5 August 503.[4] |
| 554 | Medieval sources in Metz record a lunar occultation of Venus at around this time. The most likely date was 9 October 554.[5] |
| 1476 | Castilian astronomer Abraham Zacuto made a detailed report of a lunar occultation of Venus on 24 July 1476.[6] |
| 1529 | Renaissance polymath Nicolaus Copernicus observed the Moon occult Venus on 12 March 1529, and he used this and records of occultations from antiquity to deduce the motion of Venus.[7] |
| 1757 | A near simultaneous occultation of Mars and Venus occurred 18 March 1757. The two planets had an angular separation of 25′.[8] |
| 1923 | On 13 January 1923, a lunar occultation of Venus was photographed from the United States.[9] |
| 1980 | From the British Isles on 5 October 1980, a rare lunar eclipse sequence of Venus and the star Regulus was viewed by multiple observers.[10] |
| 1998 | On 23 April 1998, there was a near simultaneous lunar occultation of Venus and Jupiter. However, most of the event was only observable from the South Atlantic ocean.[8] |
| 2007 | The Venus Express spacecraft was in orbit around Venus when a lunar occultation was observed on 18 July 2007. Scientists used the radio transmissions to measure the electron density in the Moon's ionosphere.[11] |
| 2015 | On the 7 December 2015, the lunar occultation of Venus was observed by astronomers in Texas.[12] Similarly, Joel Kowsky, the astronomer of NASA recorded the lunar occultation of Venus the same day from Washington, D.C. The lunar occultation of Venus on this date was the second lunar occultation of the Venus in the same year.[13] |
| 2020 | Venus was eclipsed by the Moon at 19 June 2020 from 9:44:15 - 10:46:12 PM (UTC+2).[14][15] |
| 2021 | In the year 2021, Venus was occultated in the evening from 6 November to 8 November.[16] On 8 November 2021, the lunar occultation of Venus was observed from the Eastern part of Asia.[17] |
| 2023 | On 24 March 2023, there was a lunar occultation viewed from Taiwan.[18]
On 9 November 2023, there was a lunar occultation observed from Europe.[19][20][21] |
| 2053 | A near simultaneous lunar occultation of Venus and Uranus is predicted for 16 August 2053.[8] |
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