The moon meets Venus above the NASA "Meatball" in Washington D.C.

(Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The crescent moon and Venus put on a spectacular show for skywatchers worldwide during a dramatic close approach in the evening sky earlier this week. Read on to see a selection of gorgeous photos of the cosmic rendezvous, captured from around the world.Photographers captured the razor-thin lunar crescent just a few days after the new moon phase on May 16, as sunlight reflected from Earth's surface and atmosphere bathed the shadowed expanse of the moon's disk in a soft glow, known as earthshine..Stunning photos of the May's lunar conjunction of Venus and the moonMeng Zhongde spied Venus and the moon shining in the twilight sky over the Hainan Province of China on May 19, with earthshine illuminating the lunar disk as reflected sunlight poured into the night from its glowing crescent.

The moon and Venus brighten the sky over China. (Image credit: Photo by Meng Zhongde/VCG via Getty Images)Photographer Gary Hershorn captured a dazzling photo of Venus shining to the left of the crescent moon above the One World Trade Center on May 18, as the glow of dusk illuminated the New York City skyline.