A barely-there crescent Moon teams up with the disappearing “morning star” in tomorrow’s dawn twilight. But there’s not much time to look for them.

The Moon will cross between Earth and the Sun in a couple of days. It’ll be lost in the Sun’s glare. It will return to view, in the evening sky, by Friday or Saturday.

Venus is getting ready to disappear in the dawn twilight as well. It will cross behind the Sun on January 6th. It’s a slower passage, so the planet will be hidden in the Sun’s glare for about three months. It’ll emerge as the “evening star” in February.

Most cultures figured out that the morning and evening star were actually the same object thousands of years ago. Even so, they had different names for the morning and evening appearances. In ancient Greece, morning Venus was named for the god Phosphorus. In Rome, he was Lucifer. Both names mean “bringer of light” – the god lit the dawn sky with a torch.

Venus passes behind the Sun every 584 days – a bit more than 19 months. Before and after it disappears, it’s almost full. So if you look at Venus with a telescope now, it’ll be almost fully lit up – like a negative image of the “fingernail” crescent Moon.

Look for Venus and the Moon quite low in the eastern sky beginning about 45 minutes before sunrise. Because of the timing and the viewing angle, they’ll be a little easier to spot from the southeastern corner of the country.

Script by Damond Benningfield