Starting Anew

Every month the moon returns to a position in between the Sun and the Earth and the three bodies line up in what is called conjunction. For a period of a day or two, the moon is absent from our sky. As the moon slowly makes its way out of alignment, it increasingly begins to reflect more sunlight off its surface and becomes visible once again in the shape of a crescent. The moon was one of the first methods we humans used to keep track of time - many moons ago. For some, Muslims in particular, the moon is still the only means of keeping track of the days in a year and after twelve new moons, the starts anew. Its a rare event to have the New Year begin with the planet Venus, seen here as only a star, accompany the new crescent moon in the sky after sunset. It is a sign of hope that together we can make the times to come better for all.