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Tuesday 26 May 2020

Earthshine

Well, no luck with the comet last night... The main issue is that it doesn't get dark enough to see a 7th magnitude object until midnight, by which time the current location of the comet (between Auriga and Perseus) is very low. Still, there was a beautiful waxing crescent Moon, with the 'dark' portion being illuminated by sunlight reflected from the Earth. This phenomenon is often referred to as 'the new Moon in the old Moon's arms', and was first correctly explained by Leonardo da Vinci: his drawing is at the bottom!





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