Observatory Aligned with Moon Occulting Jupiter

Explanation: Sometimes we witness the Moon moving directly in front of -- called occulting -- one of the planets in our Solar System . Earlier this month that planet was Jupiter. Captured here was the moment when Jupiter re-appeared from behind the surface of our Moon. The Moon was in its third quarter , two days before the dark New Moon . Now, our Moon is continuously half lit by the Sun, but when in its third quarter, relatively little of that half can be seen from the Earth . Pictured, the Moon itself was aligned behind the famous Lick Observatory in California , USA , on the summit of Mount Hamilton . Coincidentally , Lick enabled the discovery of a moon of Jupiter: Amalthea , the last visually detected moon of Jupiter after Galileo 's observations .

Gallery: Moon Occults Jupiter in 2023 May: Notable Submissions to APOD