'Smiley face' won't be visible in PH skies on April 25 - PAGASA

Venus, Saturn, and the waning crescent moon will form a "smiley face" in the sky on Friday, April 25. Unfortunately, people in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia will not be able to witness this rare celestial spectacle. The reason for this is that the triple conjunction will occur in the eastern horizon in the late afternoon, when planets cannot be seen with the naked eye due to daylight, PAGASA said on Tuesday.

“In our region, the waning crescent moon rises before Venus and Saturn. This causes the moon to appear above the two planets in the sky—creating an inverted or ‘sad face’ pattern instead of the usual smiley,” it said. PAGASA added that the smiley pattern will be observable in other parts of the world, such as South Asia, Europe, and the Americas.



''[T]he timing works out better: Venus and Saturn rise before the moon, and the 'smiley' alignment appears just before sunrise, while the sky is still dark enough to see it,'' it said. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News.