Hello, Dopers, AMAPAC here.
Seeing how this evening’s sky has a nice Moon/Venus/Jupiter conjunction (which looks sort of like a smiley face when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere), it made me wonder if Moon/Venus (or maybe Moon/Jupiter) could ever be in the right position to make an Islamic Star&Cresent symbol.
If a thin-cresent Moon could actually occult Venus at its mid-latitudes, that would make just exactly the sort of Star & Cresent symbol that is associated with Islam.
Thanks!..AMAPAC
No, because the Moon is opaque.
Of course I know the Moon is opaque. But if the Moon were occulting Venus, then Venus would become visible just as it cleared the Moon’s horizon.
I’ve seen renditions of the Star & Cresent with the star just outside the Moon’s visual circle, and this is what would be imitated by the Moon occulting Venus (or perhaps Jupiter).
The question is–can the cresent Moon occult Venus at its mid-latitudes?
No reason it couldn’t. In fact, folks in Europe did see an occultation, though I’m not sure where on the edge of the Moon it occurred.