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 June 21

                             Moon Occults Venus
                Image Credit & Copyright: Dzmitry Kananovich

   Explanation: It may look like Earthrise, but it's actually Venus-set.
   Just after sunrise two days ago, both the Moon and Venus also rose. But
   then the Moon overtook Venus. In the featured image sequence centered
   on the Moon, Venus is shown increasingly angularly close to the Moon.
   In the famous Earthrise image taken just over 50 years ago, the Earth
   was captured rising over the edge of the Moon, as seen from the Apollo
   8 crew orbiting the Moon. This similar Venus-set image was taken from
   Earth, of course, specifically Estonia. Venus shows only a thin
   crescent because last week it passed nearly in front of the Sun, as
   seen from Earth. The Moon shows only a thin crescent because it will
   soon be passing directly in front of the Sun, as seen from Earth.
   Today, in fact, two days after this image was taken, the Moon will
   create a solar eclipse, with a thin swath across the Earth treated to
   an annular solar eclipse.

    Gallery: Notable images of the Venus - Mooon conjunction of 2020 June
                              submitted to APOD
                        Tomorrow's picture: sun block
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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