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Credit & Copyright: Larry Koehn
Explanation:
Gliding toward today's total eclipse
of the Sun,
the crescent Moon has been rising early, just before dawn.
And as a prelude to its close solar alignment,
the Moon also completed a lovely celestial triangle, closing
with bright planets
Mars and Venus
on the morning of December 1.
While the total solar eclipse
can only
be seen
from a
narrow corridor, skygazers around the globe could
appreciate this
lunar-planetary conjunction.
This view is from near Nashville Tennessee, USA, and finds
brilliant Venus at the lowest corner of the triangle with a much fainter
Mars immediately to the right of the Moon.
The Moon's crescent is overexposed, but details of the lunar night side
are revealed by earthshine.
Above and to the right of the trio is
Spica, brightest star in
the constellation Virgo.
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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 - Mars - Venus - Spica
Publications with words: Moon - Mars - Venus - Spica
See also: