On this March evening, the one-day-old Moon joined Venus (center) and Mercury (upper right) in a beautiful conjunction. Along with the Earth, these are the four members of the solar system that are closest to the Sun. Only about 2% of the Moon was illuminated by sunlight; the rest of the Moon was dimly lit by earthshine.

Image details: Based on three 1/10-second exposures taken with an Canon T6i camera at ISO 12800 and a focal length of 112 mm.

March 18, 2018