                        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.

                                2026 April 24

                         Young Moon and Sister Stars
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer

   Explanation: Sunlit arms of a crescent moon seem to embrace the faint
   lunar night side in this dramatic celestial scene from planet Earth.
   The single telephoto exposure tracking the sky was captured on the
   night of April 19, when a two day old Moon was near perigee in its
   elliptical orbit. On that date, the young Moon was also close on the
   sky to the lovely Pleiades Star Cluster. With the moonlight dimmed by
   clouds the Pleiades sister stars gather below the Moon's bright
   crescent, seen through a faint but colorful lunar corona. The lunar
   night side is illuminated by earthshine, sunlight reflected from the
   Earth itself. The Moon's ashen glow, also known as the "old moon in the
   young moon's arms", tends to be brighter in the northern hemisphere
   spring. And for now, the Moon's orbit takes it near the Pleiades stars
   each month in planet Earth's sky, though their close conjunctions are
   easiest to see when the Moon is near a crescent phase.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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