Earthshine (redirected from Planetshine)

earthshine

Earthshine on the moon.

(credit: Courtesy of Yerkes Observatory, Wisconsin)

Sunlight reflected from Earth, especially that reflected onto the dark side of the Moon. For a few days before and after each new moon, this doubly reflected light is powerful enough to make the whole Moon visible, producing the effect, in the case of the new moon, of “the new moon holding the old moon in her arms.”

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earthshine [′ərth‚shīn]

(astronomy)

earthlight

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Earthshine 

(earthlight), the faint luminescence of the portion of the visible disk of the moon not illuminated by direct sunlight. Observed when the moon is in the crescent phase, earthshine is caused by the reflection of sunlight by the earth when the greater part of the earth’s hemisphere illuminated by the sun is turned toward the moon. The first correct explanation of earthshine was given by the Italian scientist Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th century.