As the moon orbits our planet, we see different parts of its sunbathed Earth-facing hemisphere, which creates the moon’s familiar phases. Like Earth, the moon is spherical, and sitting in space, one half of it is always lit by the sun. Normally the dark side of the moon is truly dark. In a pale and gentle shade of its full glory, it looks like a ghost. It appears to be faintly glowing, softly illuminated and forming an eerie outline of the rest of the moon’s disk. If the twilight is deep enough, you might see that the dark part of the moon isn’t, well, dark. And as for the unlit remainder, that should be invisible, right? The part of it lit by the sun forms a tight crescent with the tips pointing away from the sun. Once you spot the moon, take a close look at it. But over the next few nights, the moon will pull away to the east (to the upper left, that is, for Northern Hemisphere observers) as its lunar crescent grows thicker. If you go out tonight (Friday, July 21, 2023), the moon will be an extremely thin crescent just above Venus and next to the much fainter red planet Mars. You’ll see brilliant Venus setting not far above the horizon and, depending on the exact day you look, the thin crescent moon nearby. Go outside just after sunset, and turn your gaze to the west. You can see that for yourself over the next few nights. With my apologies to Roger Waters, who wrote those lyrics, there is a dark side of the moon. Matter of fact, it’s all dark.” -Pink Floyd “There is no dark side of the moon, really.
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