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image credit & copyright: Roy Spencer



on april 3, a Full Moon rose opposite the setting Sun

its yellowish moonglow silhouettes a low tree-lined ridge along Lewis Mountain in this northeastern Alabama skyscape

sharing the telephoto field-of-view opposite the Sun are Earth's grey shadow, the pinkish Belt of Venus, and bright planet Jupiter

nearing its own 2018 opposition on may 8, Jupiter is flanked by tiny pinpricks of light, three of its large Galilean moons

Europa lies just below Jupiter, and Ganymede and Callisto are just above

closer and brighter, our own natural satellite appears to loom large but the Moon is physically a little smaller than Ganymede and Callisto, and slightly larger than water world Europa

sharp eyes will also spot the trails of two jets across the clear evening sky












































in apod.nasa.gov/apod