Planets surround moon in unusual night sky

The moon shines over the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, India, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. Soldiers removed the remaining bodies from the shattered Taj Mahal hotel on Monday, searching each room in the labyrinthine building and defusing booby-traps and bombs left by the gunmen who killed 172 people during three days of terror. The planets Venus, top left, and Jupiter, top right, came in close proximity with the moon as seen from Earth Monday. In reality, Venus is almost 100 million miles way and Jupiter nearly 550 million miles from our planet. The moon is 252,000 miles away. The exact combination of planets and the moon in the right place to appear together, even when they aren't high enough in the evening sky to be appreciated, won't happen again until 2052.
(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A rare positioning of planets Venus (top left) and Jupiter (top right) and the crescent moon of the Earth provides a 'smiley' effect that captivated Asia Monday night Dec. 2, 2008.
(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

A crescent moon and the planets Jupiter (bottom) and Venus are seen in the sky over Buenos Aires December 1, 2008. Astronomers and skygazers across the world are keeping watch on Monday night for a rare astronomical phenomenon as two of the brightest naked-eye planets, Venus and Jupiter, join a thin crescent moon to create a brief "unhappy face" in the sky.
REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian (ARGENTINA)

Netanya moon : A picture taken from the Israeli coastal city of Netanya shows a crescent moon forming a triangle with Venus (top-R) and Jupiter (L). Astronomers refer to this rare phenomenon as an "occultation," taken from the Latin word occultare, which means "to conceal.
" A (AFP/Jack Guez)

The brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, close in on each other and the moon nearby in the night sky Nov. 30, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii. This event, often referred to as conjunction by astronomers, happens only once every few years. The next conjunction will come in 2012.
(Photo and caption submitted by Wang Yunai)

A crescent moon is seen with the planet Jupiter in the sky over Amman December 1, 2008. Astronomers and skygazers across the world are keeping watch on Monday night for a rare astronomical phenomenon as two of the brightest naked-eye planets, Venus and Jupiter, join a thin crescent moon to create a brief "unhappy face" in the sky. On Sunday night, the two planets appeared closest together in an event known as "Planetary Conjunction".
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN)

A crescent moon is seen below the planets Jupiter (L) and Venus (R) in the sky over Amman December 1, 2008. Astronomers and skygazers across the world are keeping watch on Monday night for a rare astronomical phenomenon as two of the brightest naked-eye planets, Venus and Jupiter, join a thin crescent moon to create a brief "unhappy face" in the sky. On Sunday night, the two planets appeared closest together in an event known as "Planetary Conjunction".
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN)

A crescent moon (R) is seen with the planet Jupiter in the sky over Amman December 1, 2008. Astronomers and skygazers across the world are keeping watch on Monday night for a rare astronomical phenomenon as two of the brightest naked-eye planets, Venus and Jupiter, join a thin crescent moon to create a brief "unhappy face" in the sky. On Sunday night, Venus and Jupiter appeared closest together in an event known as "Planetary Conjunction".
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN)

A crescent moon is seen below Jupiter (top) and Venus in Kathmandu December 1, 2008.
REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)

Sun Nov 30, 9:33 PM ET
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A crescent moon (R) is seen below Jupiter (top) and Venus in Los Angeles November 30, 2008.
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES)

A passenger jet passes by a crescent moon at Sheoraphuli, India, in this Oct. 22, 2008 photo, as the first Indian spacecraft heads towards the moon.
(Photo and caption submitted by Rajib Singha)