Thin Crescent Bowl filled with Earthglow

pre-dawn sky event

MichaelStephenWills

A thin crescent bowl filled with earthglow floating above the dawn attended by Venus, Mars, Virgo.

Thin Crescent with Planets, Stars, Dawn

This was the view from Ithaca, New York at the start of dawn this morning of Tuesday, October 17, 2017.  Mars is next to the moon, the stars of the constellation Virgo scattered around, Venus is the bright object below.  We had a bright, clear sky not unusual for September and October.

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In the city, an arch of Schoellkopf Stadium on the Cornell University campus.  Cornell is on east hill.  We live on west hill, across the valley.  It is quiet on west hill, away from the students.

Earlier this week the crescent was in the constellation Leo where the bright limb occulted the bright star Regulus, to reappeared from behind the dark limb, a brilliant spectacle that happened after dawn for New York.  It was cloudy, as usual, on October 14.

When I woke, the moon was shining through the trees, still full of just turning leaves. The crescent turned, cup like, above the horizon, to cradle the dark orb glowing from the reflected light of our earth. I did not recognize Mars, the disk was less red than usual. Research revealed the moon had two planets in seeming attendance. I also learned that, when the horns point right the moon is waning, moving toward a new, or un-illuminated, moon. When the phase moved from new it is also a crescent with horns pointing left.

This morning was a fortunate gift, I had never contemplated the moon in quite this form before.

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16 thoughts on “Thin Crescent Bowl filled with Earthglow”

    1. Vonnegut attended Cornell, his academic failure there that lead to his experiences in WWII. In terms of literary figures, Vladimir Nabokov comes to mind. He taught there after emigrating to the USA. It was on the Ithaca buses he picked up vernacular incorporated into Lolita.

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  2. Beautiful picture of the moon and its attendants. I do contemplate the moon a lot.😊 .
    It has such a big place in literature. Poetry and songs as well as affecting the Earth all the time.
    I have written a poem about this. Might post that in a week’s time. 🦋 .
    miriam

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