Sunday, November 27, 2011

'Earthshine' sheds light on the moon's night side during conjunction

I went outside my friends' house Saturday night and saw these two celestial objects setting in the western sky. Jupiter and the moon came close together for a conjunction. Only a crescent of the moon was illuminated by the sun's direct light. The rest of the natural satellite, however, was lit by "earthshine," or sunlight that bounces off Earth, then hits the moon.

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