People around the world took to social media to share pictures of the moon and planet Venus dancing on Saturday evening.

Pictures of the two, appear to be less than a “half a fist.”

This is called a “sidereal month” which is the length of time it takes the moon to circle the Earth once, using the background stars as a reference point.

According to the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, a sidereal month is characterized by the Moon making a full circle relative to the background stars every 27.32 days, moving its own apparent diameter (about half a degree) in slightly over an hour.

This motion is particularly obvious when the Moon occults a bright star or planet.

Picture: Abdulrahman Awadallah

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