Thin Crescent Bowl filled with Earthglow

Here I explore the concepts of “earthglow” and occultation.

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 the 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. On the whole, we’re much less attuned to the night sky now than people were throughout almost all of human history. I’d seen the moon thousands of times, into my mid-20s, before I learned one of the things you mentioned: in the days after a new moon, the surface fills with light from right to left, therefore beginning with a horns-pointing-left crescent, passing through a full moon, and ending with a horns-pointing-right crescent before the next new moon.

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      1. Hope your Boo is seasonal greeting and not misinterpretation of my prior comment … I am truly enjoying your moon posts – great photos.
        And this post sent me on a terminology hunt – I have a new context for “horns” and “limb” – thanks.

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  6. Michael, a wondrous and striking photo, I feel myself drawn to the moon! What a beautiful description of the unusual moon last week and I love how you saw the gift of this moment – too often we rush past such precious times and fail to absorb them into our being!

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