Saudi Arabia’s skies witnessed a daytime lunar occultation of Venus on Monday, with the Moon passing directly in front of the bright planet and temporarily blocking it from view across parts of the Kingdom.Astronomical calculations place the event on September 14, rather than September 15, despite a Saudi Press Agency item published on Monday referring to the phenomenon as occurring “tomorrow”. Independent ephemerides and international astronomical forecasts list the occultation for Monday, with the global visibility window running from about 09:26 to 13:42 UTC.
Noor Astronomy Society said the phenomenon could be observed from various parts of Saudi Arabia and across much of the Arab region. An occultation occurs when one celestial body passes in front of another from an observer’s perspective, causing the more distant object to disappear temporarily behind the nearer body.
For observers in Jeddah, astronomical predictions placed the disappearance of Venus at about 1pm local time and its reappearance at about 2.33pm, giving the city a viewing interval of roughly 93 minutes. Exact timings varied by location because the Moon’s apparent position against the background sky changes slightly depending on where an observer is standing on Earth.
The event took place in daylight, making Venus harder to locate than during evening or night-time observing. Venus was nevertheless exceptionally bright, at about magnitude minus 4.4 to minus 4.5, bright enough to be visible through suitable optical equipment when conditions were clear and its position known.
Observers were advised to find the crescent Moon first and then locate Venus close to its edge before the planet disappeared. Binoculars or telescopes could make the event easier to follow, although specialists stress that optical equipment should never be pointed near the Sun without proper solar-safety precautions.
The Moon was a young waxing crescent, only a few days past the new-moon phase. During the occultation, it moved across the same line of sight as Venus, covering the planet before allowing it to emerge again from the opposite lunar limb. The event was visible across a broad track covering parts of Asia, Africa, Europe and western Russia.
NASA had listed September 14 as one of three lunar occultations of Venus visible from Earth during 2026. The first occurred on June 17 and was visible from parts of North America, while another is due on November 7 over parts of southern South America.
The September event also coincided with a close apparent approach between the Moon and Venus. Their angular separation fell to around half a degree, close to the apparent width of the full Moon, before the lunar disc moved directly across Venus for observers within the occultation path.
Venus, the brightest planet as seen from Earth, was positioned in the constellation Virgo during the alignment. Its strong brightness made it a favourable target despite the blue daytime sky, though haze, dust and cloud could reduce visibility, particularly without magnification.
In Riyadh and other central locations, the event occurred during the early afternoon, when the Moon stood well above the horizon. Viewing circumstances differed across the Kingdom because local altitude, atmospheric clarity and contact times changed from west to east. Astronomers also noted that Venus would vanish behind the Moon’s dark limb before reappearing beside the illuminated crescent, making the two stages visually distinct through magnifying optical instruments.
The geometry of a lunar occultation means it is not visible everywhere, even when the Moon and planet appear close together worldwide. Because the Moon is relatively near Earth, its apparent position shifts against more distant objects when viewed from different regions, creating a defined band where the planet is fully covered.
Outside that band, observers could still see a close conjunction rather than an occultation. The Moon and Venus appeared near one another in the sky, but the lunar disc did not pass directly across the planet from those locations.
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