Full Venus and Crescent Moon Rise
Explanation:
Inner planet Venus
and a thin crescent Moon are never found
far from the Sun in planet Earth's skies.
Taken
near dawn on April 6, this timelapse composite
shows them both rising just before the Sun.
The mountaintop
Teide Observatory
domes on the fortunate island of
Tenerife appear in silhouette against the twilight.
In fact, the series of telephoto exposures follows the
occultation of Venus
by the Moon in three frames.
Far from Earth in its orbit and in a
nearly full phase, Venus was
96 percent illuminated.
Near perigee or closest approach to Earth,
the Moon's slender crescent represents about 2 percent of the
lunar disk in sunlight.
Seen in the first two exposures, the brilliant morning star only
vanishes in the third as it winks out behind the bright lunar limb.
Five minutes of the dramatic occultation at dawn is compressed into
15 seconds in this
timelapse video (vimeo).
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
