Jupiter by Moonlight

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 2023-11-03 · NASA (public domain)

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Jupiter by Moonlight — APOD for 2023-11-03

That bright beacon you've seen rising in the east just after sunset is Jupiter. Climbing high in midnight skies, our Solar System's ruling gas giant was at its 2023 opposition, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky, on November 2. But only a few days earlier, on October 28, the Moon was at its own opposition. Then both Full Moon and Jupiter could share this telephoto field of view. The celestial scene is composed from two exposures, one long and one short, blended to record bright planet and even brighter Moon during that evening's partial lunar eclipse . Moonlight shining through the thin, high clouds over northern Italy creates the colorful iridescence and lunar corona . Look closely and you'll also spot some of Jupiter's Galilean moons .

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2023-11-03 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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