New Moon was at 5.11am on 24/8/2006, so on the evening of the 25th at 5.30pm when the Sun dips below the horizon, the Crescent Moon will be 36 hours old and visible for about an hour after sunset hanging above the western horizon.
This should be nice to observe with binoculars, and well worth the effort of finding a clear western horizon.
After finding myself a clear western horizon at Keperra (a difficult task in hilly treed suburbian Brisbane) I searched the western horizon intently with my 7x50's. It took a while to spot the thin sliver of silver barely visible in the twlight. It became more and more visible as the Sun sank below the horizon, and the young moon was easily naked eye by about 6pm or shortly thereafter. It was an awesome sight. The darker the sky got the more of a hint of earthshine was apparent, highlighting the full globe.
At this time of year the ecliptic is almost perpendicular to the horizon, leaving the young moon higher in a deepening sky. I wished I had a telescope to get a better view of the crescent. Even my 11x80's didn't bring out any detail.
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