Earthshine and Venus Over Sierra de Guadarrama

What just above that ridge? The Moon. Specifically, the Earth’s Moon was caught just above the horizon in a young crescent phase. The familiar Moon might look a bit odd as the exposure shows significant Earthshine — the illumination of the part of the Moon hidden from direct sunlight by the sun-reflecting Earth. Also captured in the image is the bright planet Venus on the right. Venus and Jupiter passed only three degrees from each other last week during a photogenic planetary conjunction. The above image was taken two days ago near Madrid, Spain. The foreground horizon silhouette includes some of the Seven Peak s of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. Just a few minutes after this picture was taken, the Moon set.

Conjunction Gallery: See images of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter together over the past month.