Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Earthshine and Venus Over Sierra de Guadarrama

NASA ^ | March 28, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: What just above that ridge? The Moon. Specifically, the Earth's Moon was caught just above the horizon in a young crescent phase. The familiar Moon might look a bit odd as the exposure shows significant Earthshine -- the illumination of the part of the Moon hidden from direct sunlight by the sun-reflecting Earth. Also captured in the image is the bright planet Venus on the right. Venus and Jupiter passed only three degrees from each other last week during a photogenic planetary conjunction. The above image was taken two days ago near Madrid, Spain. The foreground horizon silhouette includes some of the Seven Peaks of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. Just a few minutes after this picture was taken, the Moon set.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Daniel Fernández (DANIKXT)]

[Yardstick]

So the moon’s dark portion is being indirectly lit by sunlight bouncing off the earth. Pretty neat. This must not be too terribly rare because I think I’ve seen it before.

[editor-surveyor]

Cool!

Obviously a long exposure.

[SunkenCiv]

Conjunction Gallery: See images of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter together over the past month.

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[editor-surveyor]

No, not so rare, except for the position of Venus, but still difficult to capture with a camera.

[The Cajun]

Have seen that out in the flat marsh, awesome.
The moon size illusion is much more pronounced in person.

[JoeProBono]

[dr_lew]

This must not be too terribly rare because I think I’ve seen it before.

Every new moon shows it to one degree or another, depending on the cloud cover of the moon-facing hemisphere ( cloudier = brighter ). The remarkable thing about this photo, and most of these types of shots, is the amazing photosensitivity and resolution of modern cameras.

[left that other site]

VERY Nice!