Is the crescent moon ever visible at midnight?
Hi Rahul! Yes, it is. You can see it after midnight this week. Let’s take here in New York as an example, although the principle applies anywhere in the temperate zones and polar regions of the world. Tonight, Tuesday April 8, the moon is just three days old. The thin crescent moon sets at 11:11 p.m., Daylight Saving Time. Tomorrow night, it sets 12:36 a.m., past midnight, on April 10, still as a crescent with earthshine clearly visible. Now, Daylight Saving Time is part of the reason the crescent moon is still out after midnight this month. But even if you were on Standard Time, as many places in Asia are, the crescent moon on Thursday evening stays out until 12:30 a.m. Standard Time (=1:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). This is for the waxing crescent, which appears in the days after the new moon. The same principle applies for the waning crescent in the morning skies. For instance, at Sydney, Australia (where Daylight Saving Time is now over), the last quarter this month falls on the
