﻿ 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. 2023 December 4 [2]A thin crescent moon is shown with a bright red contrail going through it, right to left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Plane Crossing Crescent Moon Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Juned Patel Explanation: No, the Moon is not a bow, and no, it did not shoot out a plane like an arrow. What is pictured is a chance superposition. The plane's [4]contrail would normally appear white, but the large volume of air toward the rising Sun preferentially knocked away blue light, not only making the [5]sky blue, but giving the reflected trail a bright [6]red hue. Far in the distance, well behind [7]the plane, the [8]crescent Moon also appears slightly reddened. Captured early last month from [9]Bolton, [10]UK, the featured image was taken so soon after sunrise that the plane was sunlit from below, as was its contrail. Within minutes, unfortunately, the impromptu sky [11]show ended. The plane moved out of sight. The [12]Moon kept rising but became harder to see through a brightening sky. And the [13]contrail gradually dispersed. Tomorrow's picture: powerful ray __________________________________________________________________ [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]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2312/BowArrow_Patel_2895.jpg 3. mailto: junedpatel at hotmail dot com 4. https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/on-the-trail-of-contrails 5. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/ 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050711.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?tquery=airplane 8. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/moon-phases/en/ 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom 11. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/19/world/17grumpycat-1/17grumpycat-1-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg 12. https://moon.nasa.gov/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap041013.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231203.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.com/feed.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231204 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231205.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. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/