May 5, 2017
A birthday is what happens when cosmic time briefly puts down the scale of eons and pays attention to a single human year.
The Bull's Eye and the Young Moon
Birthday · May 5, 2017
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APOD published May 5, 2017. Credit: Giorgia Hofer. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Aldebaran, eye of Taurus the Bull, and a young crescent Moon shared an early evening sky last Friday. The lovely celestial pairing could be enjoyed around planet Earth, but from some locations the Moon was even seen to pass in front of Aldebaran, a dramatic lunar occultation of the familiar bright star. Taken at nightfall on April 28, this skyscape captures Aldebaran shortly after it emerged from behind the bright lunar limb. In the foreground are craggy peaks of the Dolomite mountains near Laggio di Cadore, Italy. Before reappearing beyond the sunlit crescent, Aldebaran first winked out behind the Moon's ashen glow, the lunar nightside faintly illuminated by earthshine.
Image credit: Giorgia Hofer