Leaving my Thai lesson early Monday evening, Khru Kitiya (my tutor) and I noticed a smiling face low on the western horizon: the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the moon.
Here in Thailand, text messages were being sent between people almost as fast as rumors of a coup. “Look in the sky! Look in the sky!” Tawn’s father called and told him. Many said – and the newspaper captions Tuesday morning accompanying pictures of the event agreed – that perhaps this was an auspicious sign pointing to a bloodless end to Thailand’s political difficulties.
This pairing of the two planets will happen again in February 2010, but will be too close to the sun to see. According to National Geographic, some historians think that a similar conjunction between the planets in 2 B.C. may have been the source of the “Star of Bethlehem” in the Bible. The pair of stars would have been so close together, they may have appeared as a single source of light.
My father is a moon-watcher. For as long as I can remember, he’s written the full moons on his calendar and knows the names of the different moons. When my oldest niece, Emily, was just a few years old he would show her the full moons. Now she is a moon-watcher, too.
Let’s hope that this conjunction is an auspicious sign.
christao408 
That is so cool. Definitely hope it’s a good sign. 🙂
GREAT photo. Did you use a tripod?
That’s awesome! It was turned about 135° in this hemisphere, but it was still beautiful.
We (hubby and daughtes) went outside last night to have a look at the smiley night sky…… V
Nice pic – I should see if I can see it tonight.
Beautiful picture Chris. IT IS AN AUSPICIOUS SIGN. Having one star in the cradle of the crescent is great, but having two of them, is phenomenal. Wish it weren’t snowing and so cold … i woud have gone out and tried to see it.
I’ll take any sign as a good one if it helps bring peace to the world.
i thought it was the muslim moon.
I didn’t notice it at first…then laughed when i did.
I seen it while I was walking my dog in KL the crescent moon so like a smiley face. I only wished it’s true ie auspicious I witness the pathos of the world predicament of late sure could some cheering before the year end. Cheers
@CareyGLY – Had to improvise: I rested the camera on top of my Thai textbook, against the sign in front of the coffee shop where we meet. Used a delayed shutter to avoid shaking.
@moptoplop – Yeah, reading about it in US/Europe websites it was described as a frowning file. Here you can see that it is still the land of smiles.
It really was a sight to behold. My regret is that I didn’t have my camera with me. Anyway, you captured it nicely. Thanks for sharing.
I saw that too two hours ago here in LA, but was turned 90 degrees to the right….that’s pretty well timed for His Majesty’s birthday which is coming up in a few days.
Amazing photo!
nice picture! i totally missed it last night and i’m very glad to see the picture.
I truly hope that this is the sign of something good to come!
I remember looking up at the sky and seeing it too. It didn’t look like a happy face from here though. It was kind of sideways…so more confusing than auspicious on our end. Hehe.
WOW! Looks beautiful!
Sadly in Orange County there’s too much pollution and light to see the stars. I remember the first time I saw the moon through a telescope at camp and the Big Dipper. That was definitely an OC bubble moment.
@Norcani – It seems like I often miss the most interesting potential photos when I don’t have my camera with me. And most of the time when I do have my camera, there’s very little interesting to see. This one worked out pretty well, though.
@Shahrazad1973 – @babydot74 – @Dezinerdreams – It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it?
@bryanhew – @brooklyn2028 – @murisopsis – @TheCheshireGrins – We can use all the auspicious signs we can get…
@ZSA_MD – One of the benefits of being in the tropics, I guess, is that star-gazing doesn’t risk pneumonia. Can you imagine how much more beautiful it would have been had I been outside the city? Positively brilliant, I would guess.
@ElusiveWords – Hope you get to see it, Matt.
@generasianx – Just a paper moon on a muslin sky… Ha ha…
@curry69curry – And, like magic, the airport seiges came to an end. It is almost as if… it were planned.
By the way, my father is a moon watcher too. He took similar pictures, and when I showed him yours, he said it was upside down. LOL
That’s really cool. Great shot. A very rare opportunity.