June's Young Crescent Moon
Credit & Copyright:
Miguel Claro
Serene skyviews were enjoyed across planet Earth
earlier this week with a young
crescent Moon
low in the western sky just after sunset.
Recorded on June 4,
this
colorful example
includes a quiet beach
in the foreground with the city lights of Lisbon, Portugal,
and the Sintra Mountains along the horizon.
Posing between cloud banks, the Moon's slender, sunlit arc
represents only about 1 percent of the full lunar disc.
The rest of the Moon's nearside is faintly visible though,
illuminated
by Earthshine.
A waxing crescent Moon should
also create some lovely western skies at dusk
this
weekend.
The bright star in the sky near tonight's (Saturday's) Moon will
actually be the planet Mars.
On Sunday the Moon will move closer to a pair of celestial
beacons, bright star Regulus
and Saturn.