                        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.

                                2022 July 25

                              Find the New Moon
              Image Credit & Copyright: Mohamad Soltanolkotabi

   Explanation: Can you find the Moon? This usually simple task can be
   quite difficult. Even though the Moon is above your horizon half of the
   time, its phase can be anything from crescent to full. The featured
   image was taken in late May from Sant Martí d'Empúries, Spain, over the
   Mediterranean Sea in the early morning. One reason you can't find this
   moon is because it is very near to its new phase, when very little of
   the half illuminated by the Sun is visible to the Earth. Another reason
   is because this moon is near the horizon and so seen through a long
   path of Earth's atmosphere -- a path which dims the already faint
   crescent. Any crescent moon is only visible near the direction the Sun,
   and so only locatable near sunrise of sunset. The Moon runs through all
   of its phases in a month (moon-th), and this month the thinnest sliver
   of a crescent -- a new moon -- will occur in three days.

                    Tomorrow's picture: noctilucent comet
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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