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Crescent-Shaped Objects Near the Sun

-- | April 13, 2012

Question: I am vacationing on Bonaire. I just saw a halo around the sun and snapped a quick photo just to see how it would turn out. I saw some interesting things, but most notably a half circle that appears to be another body. What could this be? I could send you the photo if you could like to analyze it.

Answer: That crescent-shaped object you noted near the Sun was probably either the planet Mercury or Venus. Mercury was about 20 degrees from the Sun and about 10 arcseconds in size on April 3, 2012, while Venus was about 45 degrees away from the Sun and about 26 arcseconds in size.

Jeff Mangum

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