by APOD Robot » Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:05 am
Mercury and the Da Vinci Glow
Explanation: On July 8th early morning risers saw Mercury near an old Moon low on the eastern horizon.
On that date bright planet, faint glow of lunar night side, and sunlit crescent were captured in this predawn skyscape from Tenerife's Teide National Park in the Canary Islands. Never far from the Sun in planet Earth's sky, the
fleeting inner planet shines near its brightest in the morning twilight scene. Mercury lies just below the zeta star of the constellation Taurus,
Zeta Tauri, near the
tip of the celestial bull's horn. Of course the Moon's ashen glow is
earthshine, earthlight reflected from the Moon's night side. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected by Earth's oceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written over 500 years ago by
Leonardo da Vinci. Waiting for the coming dawn in the foreground are the
Teide Observatory's sentinels of the Sun, also known as (large domes left to right) the
THEMIS,
VTT, and GREGOR solar telescopes.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210710.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_210710.jpg[/img] [size=150]Mercury and the Da Vinci Glow[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] On July 8th early morning risers saw Mercury near an old Moon low on the eastern horizon. [url=https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/]On that date[/url] bright planet, faint glow of lunar night side, and sunlit crescent were captured in this predawn skyscape from Tenerife's Teide National Park in the Canary Islands. Never far from the Sun in planet Earth's sky, the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/]fleeting inner planet[/url] shines near its brightest in the morning twilight scene. Mercury lies just below the zeta star of the constellation Taurus, [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/zetatau.html]Zeta Tauri[/url], near the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation)#/media/File:Sidney_Hall_-_Urania's_Mirror_-_Taurus.jpg]tip[/url] of the celestial bull's horn. Of course the Moon's ashen glow is [url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83782] earthshine, earthlight reflected[/url] from the Moon's night side. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected by Earth's oceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written over 500 years ago by [url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/04oct_leonardo]Leonardo da Vinci[/url]. Waiting for the coming dawn in the foreground are the [url=https://www.iac.es/en/observatorios-de-canarias/teide-observatory]Teide Observatory's[/url] sentinels of the Sun, also known as (large domes left to right) the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190118.html]THEMIS[/url], [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111122.html]VTT, and GREGOR[/url] solar telescopes.
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