Please post whatever suits your fancy as payment for your stellar
response on Question:
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=160785

Thanks!!!

ace

Greetings aceresearcher!

Thanks for letting us post our comments as answers.  My comments in
the original question were fairly brief.  I first researched the
occultation between the moon and venus to see if any effect like the
one you described could happen.

"In the 1970s I watched the crescent Moon pass directly in front of
Venus. One second Venus was there, and blink! The next it was gone.
Such an event is called an occultation, and the Moon occults stars and
planets often enough that most amateur astronomers have seen one."
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/news/itn_appulse.html

You can view a graphic of the Moon occulting Venus on this page:
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/special/backyard/01as2406.htm

Unfortunately, I was unable to pinpoint anything on the specific
effect you asked about.  So I posted to the sci.astro.amateur
newsgroup to see if anyone there had some ideas that could point me in
the right direction:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&th=5fd1de1385f8fa15&rnum=1

Unfortunately, the few people who posted to the thread really didn't
have a good solution.  Here are some of the comments though:

--------------
"Can't happen.  Extreme variations in atmospheric refraction might
make it appear to impinge on the dark limb a slight amount, but never
enough to appear in the "center".  That amount of distortion would
have a full moon looking much like a half moon and as far as I know,
that's also never happened.  Distance to the object has nothing to do
with it. The light paths are essentially unchanged in space and light
rays from both objects travel through the same amount of atmosphere."
---------------
"Memory plays tricks on people.  I get occasional flashes of my early 
childhood memory triggered by current sounds, images etc.  As a kid, I
 read a lot.  Kids books are full of pictures that stay with a person.

Check out the Algerian flag.  Look familiar to what this person "saw"?

  http://www.flags.net/ALGE.htm
-----------------
"It isn't totally impossible that you saw the crater Aristarchus. 
It's about the brightest spot on the moon, and can occasionally be
seen on the dark side of the moon.  It wouldn't be nearly as
conspicuous as Venus though."
------------------



leep-ga

Great research and support links. Thanks!