            APOD: 2017 November 12 - A Happy Sky over Los Angeles

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2017 November 12
                                      [2]
                        A Happy Sky over Los Angeles
  Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Jurasevich [3] (Mt. Wilson Observatory [4] )

Explanation: Sometimes, the sky may seem to smile over much of planet Earth.
On this day in 2008, visible [5]  the world over, was an unusual superposition
of our Moon and the planets Venus and Jupiter. Pictures taken at the right
time [6] show a crescent Moon that appears to be a smile [7]  when paired with
the planetary conjunction [8]  of seemingly nearby Jupiter and Venus. Pictured
here is the scene as it appeared from Mt. Wilson Observatory [9] overlooking
Los Angeles [10] , California [11] , USA [12] after sunset on 2008 November
30. Highest in the sky and farthest in the distance is the planet Jupiter [13]
. Significantly closer and visible to Jupiter [14] 's lower left is Venus [15]
, appearing through Earth's atmospheric clouds as unusually blue. On the far
right, above the horizon, is our Moon, in a waxing crescent [16]  phase. Thin
clouds illuminated by the Moon appear unusually orange. Sprawling across the
bottom of the image are the hills of Los Angeles, many covered by a thin haze,
while LA skyscrapers [17]  are visible on the far left. Hours after the taking
of this image, the Moon approached the distant duo, briefly eclipsed Venus
[18] , and then moved on. This week, another conjunction [19]  of Venus and
Jupiter [20]  is occurring and is visible to much of planet Earth [21]  to the
east just before sunrise.

                      Tomorrow's picture: Sun comet [22]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [34] (MTU [35] ) & Jerry Bonnell [36]
                                  (UMCP [37] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [38] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [39]
              A service of: ASD [40]  at NASA [41]  / GSFC [42]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [43]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1711/happyla_jurasevich_2500.jpg
  [3] http://www.starimager.com/
  [4] https://www.mtwilson.edu/about-mwo/
  [5]
http://cosmos4u.blogspot.com/2008/12/tons-of-marvellous-pictures-document.html
  [6] http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=01&month=12&year=2008
  [7]
http://funny-pics.co/wp-content/uploads/
Happiest-Smiling-Cat-In-The-Universe.jpg
  [8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_conjunction
  [9] http://www.mtwilson.edu/
  [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles
  [11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
  [12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
  [13] ap080718.html
  [14] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/Jupiter
  [15] ap080202.html
  [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lunar-Phase-Diagram.png
  [17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Los_Angeles
  [18] ap151210.html
  [19] http://earthsky.org/?p=266758
  [20] ap151025.html
  [21] ap070325.html
  [22] ap171113.html
  [23] ap171111.html
  [24] archivepix.html
  [25] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [26] lib/aptree.html
  [27] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [28] calendar/allyears.html
  [29] /apod.rss
  [30] lib/edlinks.html
  [31] lib/about_apod.html
  [32] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=171112
  [33] ap171113.html
  [34] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [36] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [37] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [38] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [40] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [41] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [42] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [43] http://www.mtu.edu/
