                        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.

                               2021 December 4

                           Iridescent by Moonlight
               Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace

   Explanation: In this snapshot from November 18, the Full Moon was not
   far from Earth's shadow. In skies over Sicily the brightest lunar phase
   was eclipsed by passing clouds though. The full moonlight was dimmed
   and momentarily diffracted by small but similar sized water droplets
   near the edges of the high thin clouds. The resulting iridescence
   shines with colors like a lunar corona. On that night, the Full Moon
   was also seen close to the Pleiades star cluster appearing at the lower
   left of the iridescent cloud bank. The stars of the Seven Sisters were
   soon to share the sky with a darker, reddened lunar disk.

                      Tomorrow's picture: comet by eye
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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