Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, May 22nd.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 9:11.   The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 10:50 this evening.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:06.

Tonight the extremely thin crescent moon will appear below and  left of the planet Venus.  Venus itself is an extremely thin crescent, just two weeks from passing directly in front of the sun in a rare transit part of which will be visible from here.  Venus is a crescent because we are looking mostly on its night side, with just a sliver of light on its sunlit edge.  Even though Venus shows such a small sunlit sliver, it’s still very bright, since its nearness to us makes it appear larger in our sky.  You can even see the crescent in binoculars.   Venus is so bright because it’s close to us, just slightly smaller than the earth, but socked in by while sulfuric acid clouds that reflect most of the suns light covering a runaway green house effect beneath.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Venus with the moon on the evening of May 22, 2012. Created using Stellarium.