Earthshine Moon over Sicily

Explanation: Why can we see the entire face of this Moon? When the Moon is in a crescent phase, only part of it appears directly illuminated by the Sun . The answer is earthshine , also known as earthlight and the da Vinci glow . The reason is that the rest of the Earth-facing Moon is slightly illuminated by sunlight first reflected from the Earth. Since the Earth appears near full phase from the Moon -- when the Moon appears as a slight crescent from the Earth -- earthshine is then near its brightest. Featured here in combined, consecutively-taken, HDR images taken earlier this month, a rising earthshine Moon was captured passing slowly near the planet Venus , the brightest spot near the image center. Just above Venus is the star Dschubba (catalogued as Delta Scorpii ), while the red star on the far left is Antares . The celestial show is visible through scenic cloud decks. In the foreground are the lights from Palazzolo Acreide , a city with ancient historical roots in Sicily , Italy .