Earthlight (astronomy)

This article is about light reflected by Earth. For light generated in Earth's atmosphere, see Airglow.

Earthlight is the diffuse reflection of sunlight reflected from Earth's surface and clouds. Earthshine (an example of planetshine), also known as the Moon's ashen glow, is the dim illumination of the otherwise unilluminated portion of the Moon by this indirect sunlight. Earthlight on the Moon during the waxing crescent is called "the old Moon in the new Moon's arms", while that during the waning crescent is called "the new Moon in the old Moon's arms".

The night side of the moon, illuminated by earthshine, becomes visible next to the narrow crescent (11 percent, age of the moon = 3.3 days) with ash-grey moonlight. Image taken 20° over the western evening sky shortly after the equinox in spring with a particularly steep ecliptic as seen from Berlin. On the left, the star Omicron Arietis (37 Ari, 6,2^m) in the constellation Aries.

During the crescent phase, the darker side of the Moon reflects indirect sunlight, reflected from Earth, while the other side reflects direct sunlight.

An 80 mm shot of a crescent Moon with a 10-second exposure, revealing earthshine. The green ghost image was caused by a UV filter on the lens.

Visibility

Earthlight has a calculated maximum apparent magnitude of −17.7 as viewed from the Moon. When the Earth is at maximum phase, the total radiance at the lunar surface is approximately 0.15 W m⁻² from Earthlight. This is only 0.01% of the radiance from direct Sunlight. Earthshine has a calculated maximum apparent magnitude of −3.69 as viewed from Earth.

This phenomenon is most visible from Earth at night (or astronomical twilight) a few days before or after the day of new moon, when the lunar phase is a thin crescent. On these nights, the entire lunar disk is both directly and indirectly sunlit, and is thus unevenly bright enough to see. Earthshine is most clearly seen after dusk during the waxing crescent (in the western sky) and before dawn during the waning crescent (in the eastern sky).

The term earthlight would also be suitable for an observer on the Moon seeing Earth during the lunar night, or for an astronaut inside a spacecraft looking out the window. Arthur C. Clarke uses it in this sense in his 1955 novel Earthlight.

High contrast photography is also able to reveal the night side of the moon illuminated by Earthlight during a solar eclipse.

Radio frequency transmissions are also reflected by the moon; for example, see Earth–Moon–Earth communication.

History

The phenomenon was sketched and remarked upon in the 16th century by Leonardo da Vinci, who thought that the illumination came from reflections from the Earth's oceans (we now know that clouds account for much more reflected intensity than the oceans).

It is referenced in "The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens" (Child Ballad No. 58), in the phrase "‘A saw the new muin late yestreen/ Wi the auld muin in her airm."

Astronaut Dr Sian Proctor was moved by seeing and experiencing earthlight from orbit as mission pilot of Inspiration4 space mission and wrote the poem, "Earthlight". In 2024, Proctor authored EarthLight: The Power of EarthLight and the Human Perspective on the concept and nature of earthlight.

See also

• List of light sources
• Starlight
• Moonlight
• Sunlight
• Ashen light

External links

• Media related to Earthshine at Wikimedia Commons