View larger at EarthSky Community Photos. | Do you see the thin sliver of a crescent moon, above the clouds, in the center of this photo? New moon was October 16. On that day, the moon was most nearly between the Earth and sun for this monthly orbit. Radu Anghel captured the thread-like young crescent moon from Bacau, Romania, on October 17. Radu wrote: “A very young moon, only 20 hours old. Easy and wonderful to spot even with binoculars, 20 minutes after the sunset.” Thank you, Radu.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | From the Southern Hemisphere at this time of year, a young moon is easier to see. That’s because it’s springtime in that hemisphere, and the ecliptic – which marks the approximate path of the sun, moon and planets across our sky – stands nearly perpendicular in spring with respect to the western horizon after sunset. Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe, made this composite of several photos of the very young moon on October 17, 2020. See the earthshine in the upper right image? Thank you, Peter!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohamed Mohamed caught the young moon shining in the evening sky from Tripoli, Libya, on October 18. Thank you, Mohamed.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Pradya Gharpure captured the young moon from Nagpur, India, on October 18. Pradnya wrote: “The beautiful young crescent just before it set this evening!! It was a mesmerizing sight to see the earthshine too!!” Thank you, Pradnya.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Salil Kawli caught the young moon in purple twilight from Mumbai, India, on October 18. Salil wrote: “Crescent moon. Illuminated 4%.” Thanks, Salil!
Claudia Crowley proofs and edits material for the EarthSky website, newsletter, and videos. She says: "Second only to doing space shuttle documentation, EarthSky is the most exciting job I ever had." Besides NASA, Claudia wrote and edited for tech companies such as Dell, TI, NEC, and IBM. As a support tech during the wild early days of the Internet, she helped introduce hundreds of newcomers to the wonders of cyberspace. Claudia also worked as the general manager of a small wireless ISP and with the professional organization Part-15. She says: “I’ve been a fan of space and science my whole life, and I love being part of an organization where I get to learn more about them all the time.”
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