I just popped out to post a letter and noticed the old moon in the new moon's arms. Also known as the earthshine, or ashen glow, it is caused by sunlight reflected off the earth onto the dark side of the moon. When this happens, you can see the bright illuminated part of the moon (the new moon) cradling the dimly lit circle of the old moon.I wish I had a really good camera so I could take pictures of things like this. But instead I'm illustrating this post with a sketch of earthshine by Leonardo Da Vinci as part of his Codex Leicester, written between 1506 and 1510.
7 comments:
Wasn't it lovely!
Yes, saw this too, and wondered what it was about. Thank you for explanation. Love your blog.
I love that phase of the moon more thn any other, but never knew that name for it. Nor the lovely da Vinci drawing.
Thanks Melanie
Joanna
After a weekend when Kaspersky Internet Security blocked everyone's blogspot.com blogs I'm chuffed to find that this am the problem has thankfully been resolved and I can enjoy reading your blog and many many others!!!
What a beautiful post, Melanie. Thanks much for it.
Brilliant, thanks for the explanation - I saw it with my mother in law when we popped out for a meal. It was lovely, but I wasn't quite sure if I was seeing things...
Brilliant, thanks for the explanation - I saw it with my mother in law when we popped out for a meal. It was lovely, but I wasn't quite sure if I was seeing things...
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