"Earthshine" not "Moonshine"

EARTHSHINE


MOONSHINE

If you know me very well, you know that I like to keep my eyes on the skies. On this Monday evening you might want to take a look to the sky toward the southwest. You will be able to view two planets and also my favorite satellite, no not the International Space Station, but the moon. The two visible planets are Venus, the much brighter one, and also Jupiter. Venus is very bright this time of year. You might even try to go out just before sunset and try to view Venus in the sky, it is that bright. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases in which Venus drew antiaircraft fire.

The moon will also be highly visible, but only a crescent moon, but there is more to the story. What will make this viewing so great is what is called, "earthshine." This vision is sometimes called "the old moon in the young moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it. Earthshine is when the light from the sun reflects off of the Earth an additionally illuminates the moon. The crescent part of the moon will be much brighter, this is the light from the sun. The rest of the globe of the moon will be illuminated from light reflected off of the earth, this will be in a more blueish-gray color. Viewing the two planets plus the moon in this form will be a great sight to behold. If you have the chance I recommend taking the time to view our amazing Universe.