APOD: Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon (2020 Nov 14)

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APOD: Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon (2020 Nov 14)

Post by APOD Robot » Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:05 am

Image Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon

Explanation: Yesterday, early morning risers around planet Earth were treated to a waning Moon low in the east as the sky grew bright before dawn. From the Island of Ortigia, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy this simple snapshot found the slender sunlit crescent just before sunrise. Never wandering far from the Sun in Earth's sky, inner planets Venus and Mercury shared the calm seaside view. Also in the frame, right of the line-up of Luna and planets, is bright star Spica, alpha star of the constellation Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in Earth's night. Tomorrow the Moon will be New. The dark lunar disk means mostly dark nights for planet Earth in the coming week and a good chance to watch the annual Leonid Meteor Shower.

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orin stepanek
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Re: APOD: Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon (2020 Nov 14)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:16 pm

lunaortyblue1200.jpg

Very Nice! 8-)
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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Re: APOD: Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon (2020 Nov 14)

Post by Sa Ji Tario » Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:42 pm

The image brings back memories of childhood on the way to school with a full moon sunrise, stepping on frost

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Re: APOD: Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon (2020 Nov 14)

Post by neufer » Sat Nov 14, 2020 4:54 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortygia wrote: <<Ortygia (Italian: Ortigia; Greek: Ὀρτυγία) is a small island which is the historical centre of the city of Syracuse, Sicily. The island, also known as the Città Vecchia (Old City), contains many historical landmarks. The name originates from the ancient Greek ortyx (ὄρτυξ), which means "Quail".

The Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo has it that the goddess Leto stopped at Ortygia to give birth to Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon. Artemis then helped Leto across the sea to the island of Delos, where Leto gave birth to her twin brother Apollo, the Greek goddess of the Sun. Other ancient sources state that the twins were born in the same place – which was either Delos or Ortygia. Further, there were perhaps a half-dozen other places called Ortygia, so that the identification is uncertain.

It was also said that Asteria, the sister of Leto, metamorphosed into a quail (Ortyx), threw herself into the sea, and was metamorphosed into the island of Ortygia. Another myth suggested that it was Delos, rather than Ortygia. Ortygia was the mythological home of Arethusa, a chaste nymph who, while fleeing a river god, was transformed by Artemis into a spring, traversed underground and appeared here, thus providing water for the city. Arethusa and her pursuer, the river god Alpheus, came from Arcadia in Greece.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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