Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2015 February 26
Love and War by Moonlight
Image Credit & Copyright: Kevin Bourque
Explanation: Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love, and
Mars, the war god's namesake, came together
by moonlight in this lovely skyview, recorded on February 20 from Charleston, South Carolina, USA, planet Earth. Made in twilight with a digital camera, the three second time exposure also records
earthshine illuminating the otherwise dark surface of the
young crescent Moon. Of course, the Moon has moved on from this much
anticipated triple conjunction. Venus still shines in the west though as the
evening star, third brightest object in Earth's sky, after the Sun and the Moon itself. Seen here within almost a
Moon's width of Venus, much fainter Mars approached even closer on the following evening. But Mars has since been moving slowly away from brilliant Venus, though Mars is still visible too in the
western twilight.
Tomorrow's picture: just a Messier moment
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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