                        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.

                                 2023 May 9
     A sunset sky over Sicily is shown with, from top to bottom, a pink
    atmospheric band, a blue atmospheric band containing the Moon, a band
   with land containing buildings, and a band of water reflecting the pink
       and blue atmospheric bands. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                              Shadows of Earth
               Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace

   Explanation: Can you find two Earth shadows in today's image? It's a
   bit tricky. To find the first shadow, observe that the top part of the
   atmosphere appears pink and the lower part appears blue. This is
   because the top half is exposed to direct sunlight, while the lower
   part is not. The purple area in between is known as the Belt of Venus,
   even though Venus can only appear on the other side of the sky, near
   the Sun. The blue color of the lower atmosphere is caused by the Earth
   blocking sunlight, creating Earth shadow number 1. Now, where is the
   second Earth shadow? Take a look at the Moon. Do you notice something
   unusual about the lower left part? That area appears unusually dark
   because it is in the shadow of the Earth, creating Earth shadow number
   2. To be precise, the Moon was captured during a lunar eclipse. This
   carefully timed image was taken in Sampieri, Sicily, Italy, in July
   2018.

                      Tomorrow's picture: desert galaxy
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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.

