For weekly stargazing advice, sign up to receive the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter<\/a> and listen to our weekly Star Diary podcast<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> For example, you can see a 3.7%-lit crescent Moon on the evening of 9 May, visible low above the west-northwest horizon after sunset.<\/p> At this percentage of illumination, although it might not be blindingly obvious at first, it can be seen and locked onto relatively easily, given clear skies.<\/p> This is much easier, of course, if your horizon is flat in the direction of the Moon, such a situation allowing the crescent to appear clearer at lower altitude as the sky darkens.<\/p> The thin crescent on 8 May is a different beast altogether.<\/p> There\u2019s a threshold to when you can see a thin crescent either side of the Sun.<\/p> Known as the Danjon limit, this takes into account the effects of the rough edge of the Moon and how Getting a very thin Moon in the right place at the right time is a matter of luck, but on 8 May this happens.<\/p> On this occasion, from the centre of the UK, the Sun sets around 20:52 BST (19:52 UT), a 0.6%-lit, 15.6-hours-old Moon sitting just shy of 9\u00b0 to the northeast of the Sun\u2019s position.<\/p> The Moon sets 68 minutes later at 22:00 BST (21:00 UT) \u2013 be aware, though, that the times of sunset and moonset vary slightly depending on your location within the UK.<\/p> Use sunset as the starting time of the event rather than our stated clock times.<\/p> Twenty minutes after the Sun has set, it\u2019s safe to use binoculars to start hunting.<\/p> Look for bright Jupiter just 1.5\u00b0 above the northwest horizon 20 minutes after the Sun has gone down.<\/p> Despite shining at mag. \u20131.8, low altitude will make Jupiter hard to see. At the same time, the Moon will lie 5\u00b0 above the horizon and will be just as hard to spot.\u00a0<\/p> Thirty minutes after sunset and Jupiter will be 0.5\u00b0 up. Aldebaran may become visible at this time, a mag. +0.8 star 7\u00b0 up.<\/p> This gives a good measure to the Moon\u2019s position, which will be 4\u00b0 above the horizon at 30 minutes after sunset.\u00a0<\/p> Forty minutes in and Jupiter will have set. Aldebaran will now appear 6\u00b0 up, the Moon just 3\u00b0 up.<\/p> This is probably the optimum time to see the Moon, a balance between atmospheric attenuation at low altitude and the darkening twilight.<\/p> Fifty minutes in and the Moon will be 1.8\u00b0 up and becoming difficult to see.\u00a0<\/p> This guide appeared in the May 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n See a thin crescent Moon on the evening of 8 May starting from sunset. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":57896,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/may-is-the-month-for-thin-moon-hunting-see-the-slender-crescent-meet-jupiter-over-the-coming-week.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"See a thin crescent Moon on the evening of 8 May starting from sunset.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/57895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Dates and timings for May’s thin Moons<\/strong><\/h2>
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/05\/8-may-crescent-moon-jupiter.jpg\")
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/05\/8-may-crescent-moon-aldebaran.jpg\")
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