Uploaded December 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Astronomers today know that Venus has no moon, but observers in the 17th and 18th centuries were shocked when they started noticing object in orbit around the planet. Did Venus have a secret companion hiding in plain sight for years? If not, what were they really seeing? The true story of this mysterious moon, "Neith", may surprise you. Come along as we learn about how the scientific method was used to find the truth, and how the lesson from the story of Venus's moon is applied in modern astronomy through the search for Earth's L4 trojans.
Written by Victoria Pereira
Hosted by Ramy Al-Kubessi
Shot by Ansh Gupta, Victoria Pereira, and Grant Bowman
Edited by Ansh Gupta
We stream on Twitch now! Join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at TeachAstronomy:
twitch.tv/teachastronomy
Follow us on social media:
Twitter: @activegalactic
Instagram: @activegalacticvideos
Facebook: facebook.com/ActiveGalacticVideos
Media not credited is attributed to NASA. Specifically credited assets are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
0:00 Introduction
0:31 First Observations
1:49 The Theory Spreads
2:32 Cracks Emerge
3:00 Nail in the Coffin
4:36 L4 Trojans
6:23 Conclusion
Astronomers today know that Venus has no moon, but observers in the 17th and 18th centuries were shocked when they started noticing object in orbit around the planet. Did Venus have a secret companion hiding in plain sight for years? If not, what were they really seeing? The true story of this mysterious moon, "Neith", may surprise you. Come along as we learn about how the scientific method was used to find the truth, and how the lesson from the story of Venus's moon is applied in modern astronomy through the search for Earth's L4 trojans.
Written by Victoria Pereira
Hosted by Ramy Al-Kubessi
Shot by Ansh Gupta, Victoria Pereira, and Grant Bowman
Edited by Ansh Gupta
We stream on Twitch now! Join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at TeachAstronomy:
twitch.tv/teachastronomy
Follow us on social media:
Twitter: @activegalactic
Instagram: @activegalacticvideos
Facebook: facebook.com/ActiveGalacticVideos
Media not credited is attributed to NASA. Specifically credited assets are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
0:00 Introduction
0:31 First Observations
1:49 The Theory Spreads
2:32 Cracks Emerge
3:00 Nail in the Coffin
4:36 L4 Trojans
6:23 Conclusion
