¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2020 April 15 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. A Cosmic Triangle Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Scott [4]Aspinall Explanation: It was an astronomical triple play. Setting on the left, just after sunset near the end of last month, was [5]our Moon -- showing a bright crescent phase. Setting on the right was [6]Venus, the brightest planet in the evening sky last month -- and [7]this month, too. With a small telescope, you could tell that [8]Venus' phase was half, meaning that only half of the planet, as visible from [9]Earth, was exposed to direct sunlight and brightly lit. High above and much further in the distance was the [10]Pleiades star cluster. Although the Moon and Venus move with respect to the [11]background stars, [12]the Pleiades do not -- because they are background stars. In the beginning of this month, Venus appeared to move [13]right in front of [14]the Pleiades, a rare event that happens only [15]once every eight years. The featured image captured [16]this cosmic triangle with a series of exposures taken from the same camera over 70 minutes [17]near Avonlea, [18]Saskatchewan, [19]Canada. The positions of the celestial objects [20]was predicted. The only thing [21]unpredicted was the existence of the [22]foreground tree -- and the astrophotographer is still unsure what type of tree that is. Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/MVP_Aspinall_2048.jpg 3. mailto:%20rscottaspinall%20at%20gmail%20dot%20com 4. https://www.scottaspinall.com/ 5. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/earths-moon/overview/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/ 7. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/whats-up-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/ 8. https://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-at-its-brightest-in-late-april 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/ 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170417.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190901.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200411.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200323.html 15. https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/31mar_pleiades.html 16. https://www.facebook.com/pg/APOD.Sky/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2509880029116201 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ao0MWDfOSM 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada 20. https://stellarium.org/ 21. https://companionpetstn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/dryersheet-1024x751.jpg 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181230.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200414.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200415 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200416.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. http://www.mtu.edu/