Thanks for the support guys
Always nice to know there are people who regularly follow the thread.
What's in the sky tonight?
March 24, 2012
-In order from highest to lowest, Venus, Jupiter, and the thin crescent moon form a bent line in the west and are evenly spread apart tonight.
-As darkness deepens, look for the Pleiades (M45) just above Venus. The bent line points to them!
Astro Picture of the Day:
March 24, 2012
Source:
Today's photo is a little closer to home, and if you follow today's sky you will be able to see this for yourself. Shown here is the "new side of the moon" and the "old side of the moon". There are certain phases of the cycle where both are very visible to the human eye. Today is one of those phases, and the 'dark moon' is visible because of "ashen glow". Ashen Glow is the word used to describe the earthshine that reflects off the moon. The popular crescent is reflected through the sun, and the remainder of the moon is reflected through the Earth. It is known to be strongly influenced by cloud cover, and descriptions of Earthshine have been documented 500+ years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. In this phase, if one was on the moon and looking at Earth, a very bright, nearly full Earth would be seen from the surface.