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Beauty in the skies: the dance of the moon and three planets
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It's been a great month for sky watchers, with Comet Lulin and a quadruple transit of Saturn's moons lighting up the heavens. Next, a dawn dance of the moon and three planets creates an evocative image.
Photographed in New South Wales, Australia, this beautiful picture captures the moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars. As seen in this full-sized image, they look like a second Big Dipper.
The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) explains the Mike Salway image:
When the Moon rose in predawn skies on February 23rd, it sported a sunlit crescent. It also offered early morning risers a tantalizing view of earthshine, the dark portion of the lunar disk illuminated by sunlight reflected from the Earth. Of course, on that morning a remarkable conjunction with three wandering planets added an impressive touch to the celestial scene. Recorded just before sunrise, this serene skyview looks east toward a glowing horizon across Tuggerah Lake on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Along with the waning crescent Moon, the picture captures (top to bottom) bright Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars.
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