The thin waxing crescent Moon (1.8% illuminated) shared the western sky with the planet Mercury (not visible due to the thick clouds) at dusk last December 7, 2010.

Every 29 1/2 days, the Moon completes one lunar cycle (new moon to new moon) in its orbit around the Earth. For the last few days of the cycle we have an “old moon” and then just after New Moon we have the chance  to see a “young moon”, a very thin crescent moon, just like this one, above the horizon after the Sun goes down.

Image taken from the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory Sundeck at 6:54 PM PST using my 8.0 megapixel Kodak C813 digital camera.