What was the slimmest moon you’ve ever seen? Perhaps, you’re used to the crescent moon often depicted in photos and movies but have you ever seen a crescent moon so slim that you had a hard time looking for it? At first, he couldn’t see it, but searching with binoculars along a cloudy western horizon near sunset, photographer Laurent Laveder finally spotted a delicate lunar crescent. Captured in this dramatic picture on April 6th from Bretagne, France, the Moon was only 15 hours and 38 minutes old.

Why is that only a few could spot the moon this slender?  Well, it’s simply because only a few would take the challenge.  It requires careful timing and planning to glimpse the moon at this phase.  In this particular sighting, the moon was only 0.8 percent illuminated and is therefore hard to spot.  The photographer even needed to use a pair of binoculars just to spot it.

Maybe next time, I’ll be able to spot one myself.