Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2021 July 10 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Mercury and the Da Vinci Glow Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Gabriel Funes Explanation: On July 8th early morning risers saw Mercury near an old Moon low on the eastern horizon. [5]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 [6]fleeting inner planet shines near its brightest in the morning twilight scene. Mercury lies just below the zeta star of the constellation Taurus, [7]Zeta Tauri, near the [8]tip of the celestial bull's horn. Of course the Moon's ashen glow is [9]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 [10]Leonardo da Vinci. Waiting for the coming dawn in the foreground are the [11]Teide Observatory's sentinels of the Sun, also known as (large domes left to right) the [12]THEMIS, [13]VTT, and GREGOR solar telescopes. Tomorrow's picture: try to see the Moon __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2107/IMG_2021_07_08_29558_APOD.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. mailto: gfunpol [at] gmail [dot] com 5. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/ 7. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/zetatau.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation)#/media/File:Sidney_Hall_-_Urania's_Mirror_-_Taurus.jpg 9. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83782 10. https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/04oct_leonardo 11. https://www.iac.es/en/observatorios-de-canarias/teide-observatory 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190118.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111122.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210709.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210710 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210711.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. http://www.mtu.edu/