Young Moon and Airplane

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day at 34 hours and 18 minutes after New Moon this unique image is captured using a 155mm Apochromatic telescope and a digital camera. When calculating the lunar age during a lunation or complete cycle of phases – from New Moon to Full Moon and back to New Moon again – the Moon never gets more than around 29.5 days old. Still, a young Moon can be a rewarding sight, even for casual skygazers, though the slim crescent is relatively faint and only easy to see low in the west as the sky grows dark after sunset. As noted by the photographer “This is a single and very lucky frame. The Sun was 2.8 degree below the horizon, the moon 11.8 degree above the horizon, when I pushed the button. The sunlight still reached the high altitude airplane”.