100 Steps Forward

Explanation: Also known as the Moon's "ashen glow" or the "Old Moon in the New Moon's arms",
earthshine is earthlight reflected from the Moon's night side. This stunning image of earthshine
from a young crescent moon was taken from Las Campanas Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile, planet
Earth near moonset on January 18. Dramatic atmospheric inversion layers appear above the Pacific Ocean,
colored by the sunset at the planet's western horizon. But the view from the Moon would have been
stunning, too. When the Moon appears in Earth's sky as a slender crescent, a dazzlingly bright, nearly
full Earth would be seen from the lunar surface. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight
reflected by Earth's oceans in turn illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written 500 years ago
by Leonardo da Vinci.