Earthshine Moon with Antares and Mercury

If the weather forecast calls for clear skies to the southeast on Saturday morning, December 28, it will be worth venturing outside around breakfast time to see the pretty spectacle of the old, waning moon’s slender crescent shining close to Scorpius’ bright star Antares and brighter Mercury. All three objects will clear the treetops by about 6:15 a.m. local time. Reddish Antares will sparkle just to the moon’s lower left. They’ll be extra close together for observers in westerly time zones. Mercury’s bright dot will be positioned nearly a fist’s diameter to the left (or 9 degrees to the celestial northeast) of Antares. The old moon should also display Earthshine, also known as the Ashen Glow and “the old moon in the new moon’s arms”. The phenomenon, sunlight reflected off Earth and back onto the moon, slightly brightening the dark portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere, appears for several days before and after each new moon.