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Credit & Copyright:
Dario Giannobile
Explanation:
Why can we see the entire face of this Moon?
When the
Moon is in a crescent phase,
only part of it appears directly illuminated by the
Sun.
The answer is earthshine,
also known as
earthlight and the
da Vinci glow.
The reason is that the rest of the
Earth-facing Moon
is slightly illuminated by sunlight first reflected from the Earth.
Since the Earth appears near full phase from the
Moon -- when the
Moon appears as a slight crescent
from the Earth --
earthshine is then near its brightest.
Featured here in combined, consecutively-taken,
HDR images
taken earlier this month, a
rising earthshine Moon
was captured passing slowly near the
planet Venus,
the brightest spot near the image center.
Just above Venus is the star
Dschubba (catalogued as
Delta Scorpii),
while the red star on the far left is
Antares.
The
celestial show is visible through scenic cloud decks.
In the foreground are the lights from
Palazzolo Acreide, a
city with ancient
historical roots in
Sicily,
Italy.
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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
Publications with words: Moon
See also: