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.

                              2020 February 20

                            Trifecta at Twilight
             Image Credit & Copyright: Paul Schmit, Gary Schmit

   Explanation: On February 18, as civil twilight began in northern New
   Mexico skies, the International Space Station, a waning crescent Moon,
   and planet Mars for a moment shared this well-planned single field of
   view. From the photographer's location the sky had just begun to grow
   light, but the space station orbiting 400 kilometers above the Earth
   was already bathed in the morning sunlight. At 6:25am local time it
   took less than a second to cross in front of the lunar disk moving
   right to left in the composited successive frames. At the time, Mars
   itself had already emerged from behind the Moon following its much
   anticipated lunar occultation. The yellowish glow of the Red Planet is
   still in the frame at the upper right, beyond the Moon's dark edge.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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