Look to the west after sunset this week for a spectacular sight, as the razor-thin waxing crescent moon hangs low above the horizon with earthshine bathing its unlit surface in a soft, otherworldly glow.
This month's new moon phase occurred at 9:23 p.m. EDT on March 18 (0123 GMT on March 19) as the moon lay between the sun and Earth in the daytime sky. Earthshine — also known as the Da Vinci glow, or romantically as the old moon in the new moon's arms — occurs on the nights directly preceding and following the new moon phase, when sunlight bounces off Earth's surface to strike the shadowed expanse of the lunar disk.
