The yellow object on Palau’s national flag is a moon, specifically a golden-yellow full moon set slightly off-center on a sky-blue field.
Palau adopted the flag on January 1, 1981, after becoming a republic separate from the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The blue field represents the Pacific Ocean and Palau’s place within it, while the moon reflects Palauan culture and tradition.
The full moon is associated with peace, love, and tranquility. Palauans traditionally regarded it as an especially favorable time for activities such as fishing, planting, harvesting, celebrations, canoe carving, and tree-felling.
A common mix-up is to identify the disk as a sun, perhaps because Japan’s flag uses a similar circular symbol. Palau’s disk is deliberately a moon, and its slightly off-center placement also distinguishes the design from Japan’s flag.