Earthshine Moon

The dark portion of a waxing crescent moon (lower) is highly illuminated by sunlight reflected off the Earth in this view of the west sky around 9:36 PM, Tuesday, April 24, 2012--seen from just west of the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. The moon's mare are clearly visible. Accompanying the moon in this image is the brilliant planet Venus, separated in the sky by a mere six degrees. Venus shines here at magnitude -4.50. This image is a two second exposure at f/5, 800 ISO and 145mm focal length. The cloudless sky became almost completely overcast in just over an hour from
the time this photo was taken.