“The Mystery of Da Vinci Glow on Crescent Moon: Uncovering Leonardo’s Discovery”

CNN Indonesia

Tuesday, May 23 2023 17:34 WIB

Jakarta, CNNIndonesia —

The twilight sky has phenomenon mysterious thing called Da Vinci Glow (Da Vinci Glow). What special?

The crescent phase occurs when the Moon moves away from conjunction (the point halfway between the Sun and Earth). In this phase, only less than half of the moon is exposed to sunlight.

As a result, what is visible from Earth is a sickle-shaped.

Launch CNN, Da Vinci’s glow can occur at sunset when the crescent moon is on the horizon. However, the edges of the moon that should be dark are still visible.

This phenomenon is also likely to be seen this week because the moon phase is entering the New Moon-Early New Moon (May 19-27).

Da Vinci’s luster itself is taken from the name of the legendary Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Quoted from the official website of the US Aerospace and Aviation Agency (NASA), the name was given because it was Da Vinci who solved the mystery surrounding this phenomenon.

For thousands of years, humans have marveled at this phenomenon, which is also called the “old moon in the arms of the new moon.” However, the answer to this phenomenon was only known in the 16th century through the services of Da Vinci.

The artist who was born on April 15, 1452, painted a picture of the Moon in his notebook. Later, the cause of this phenomenon was the light reflected by the Earth (Earthshine) to the Moon.

In contrast to sunlight (sunshine), Earthshine refers to the light from the Sun that is reflected by Earth even after the Sun has set. Its light is 50 times brighter than the light from a full moon.

When Da Vinci theorized about this, Nicolas Copernicus had not even published a theory that called the Earth rotating around the Sun.

But through his artistic understanding of light and shadow and geometry, Da Vinci was able to determine where the pale glow around the crescent moon was coming from.

“(This phenomenon is easiest to see during an increasing or decreasing crescent. You need a clear sky to see the Moon, but the Earth has to be cloudy enough to reflect enough light to the Moon,” said Science Engagement Manager Lunar and Planetary Institute in Boston Christine Shupla.

“Skywatchers should look for the banana-shaped crescent moon in the evening at sunset, and try to see the rest of the moon, with dim light,” he added.

Despite predicting this phenomenon, Da Vinci had two faults. First, the Moon has no oceans.

Second, the oceans on Earth are not the source that reflects the causative Sun Earthshine but clouds. The Earth shines because it reflects the Sun’s rays, and the clouds do most of it.

These two things were seen by astronauts who went to the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

(lth)