Here’s the moon on December 1, a waxing crescent moon in the evening sky. You’ll see a moon much like this, but with an increasingly fatter crescent, in the coming evenings. Abhijit Juvekar, who captured and labeled this photo, wrote:
The bright area is direct sunlight falling on moon while the faint area is called ‘earthshine.’
Earthshine is also sunlight, reflected from the Earth and falling back onto the moon’s surface.
Image shot using Canon EOS 550D with Sigma 70-300mm Lens.
Place – Lonavala, India.
1 Dec 2013
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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