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Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Funes
Explanation:
On July 8th early morning risers saw Mercury near an old Moon
low on the eastern horizon.
On
that date
bright planet, faint glow of lunar night side, and sunlit crescent
were captured in this predawn skyscape from Tenerife's
Teide National Park in the Canary Islands.
Never far from the Sun in planet Earth's sky, the
fleeting inner planet
shines near its brightest in the morning twilight scene.
Mercury lies just below the zeta star of the constellation Taurus,
Zeta Tauri,
near the
tip
of the celestial bull's horn.
Of course the Moon's ashen glow is
earthshine, earthlight
reflected
from the Moon's night side.
A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight
reflected by Earth's oceans illuminating
the Moon's dark surface, was written over 500 years ago by
Leonardo da Vinci.
Waiting for the coming dawn in the foreground are the
Teide
Observatory's
sentinels of the Sun, also known as (large domes left to right) the
THEMIS,
VTT, and GREGOR solar telescopes.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - Mercury
Publications with words: Moon - Mercury
See also: