Will there actually be a smiley face in the sky on Friday morning?
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — There have been some pictures circulating around social media showing a “smiley face” in the night sky that supposedly will be visible on the morning of April 25.
In reality, this “smiley face” won’t live up to the pictures, but there will be a formation of the moon with a couple of planets that may produce a kind-of-smiley-face view.
Just before sunrise at 5:45 a.m. on Friday morning, a waning crescent moon will be visible in the Eastern Sky, along with Saturn and Venus. It’s possible Mercury will be visible, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to see it. From space site EarthSky.org, the graphic below shows what will likely be closer to reality.
Can you see the “kind of” smiley face? It might not be obvious at first glance.
Imagine that the sliver shape of the warning crescent moon is the mouth, Venus is the left eye, and Saturn is the right eye. It will be more like a lopsided, not-so-obvious smiley face. In addition, Venus will be much brighter than Saturn, making the left “eye” much bright than the right “eye.”
A final factor that could muddy up the smiley face view will be the presence of Earthshine. Earthshine is the light reflected from Earth that can light up the dark part of the moon. This may take away some of the definition from the sliver, or mouth, shape of the moon and make it look more like a circle.
While this event won’t live up to the hype, it’s always fun to see interesting formations in space. For the best viewing of the “sort of smiley face,” look to the Eastern horizon around 5:15 a.m. on Friday morning, which is 30 minutes before the 5:45 a.m. sunrise in Phoenix.
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