images

Crescent Moon, Venus and Jupiter

by

J.Lodriguss/Novapix

Reference

a-cnj02-00011

Date

2008-12-02

A beautiful conjunction between the crescent Moon with Earthshine, brilliant Venus, and mighty Jupiter is seen in the fading twilight on the first day of December, 2008. These images were shot with a simple zoom lens on a digital camera on a fixed tripod. The Moon, at magnitude -7.9, is a waxing crescent, 4 days old. The crescent is lit by the direct light of the Sun. The "dark" side of the Moon can also be seen, lit by Earthshine - sunlight reflected from the day side of the Earth. Jupiter, at right, shines at magnitude -2.0. Venus, at the bottom of the image, shines at magnitude -4.1.