                        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 24
       A dark mountain lies in the center with an observatory building
     sporting two telescope domes. The background sky appears dark blue.
    Behind the center of the observatory is part of a crescent moon, with
    an unusual bright spot to its upper left. Please see the explanation
                       for more detailed information.

               Observatory Aligned with Moon Occulting Jupiter
     Image Credit & Copyright: Rick Whitacre; Text: Natalia Lewandowska
                                (SUNY Oswego)

   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
                     Tomorrow's picture: in a cat's eye
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

