Look for earthshine on the new Moon this week

The reaches new phase Monday afternoon, July 17, setting with the Sun just before 9 pm. The Moon will stay hidden in the Sun's glare through midweek when you can begin looking for the Moon to reappear as it rises after 10 pm.

As sunlight shines on more of the lunar surface visible from Earth, the crescent grows larger with less than 5% of the disc of the Moon in sunlight on Wednesday, then about 20-5% by the weekend.

But, if conditions are clear, and you look hard enough, you can still see Moon in these early waxing crescent phases through earthshine.

What you are seeing is sunlight reflected off Earth onto the part of the Moon not in direct Sunlight and then reflected back, revealing a dim version of the Moon. Earthshine is at its most prominent from the northern hemisphere around this time of year because the Moon is receiving so much reflected sunlight as we are tilted toward the Sun. Earthshine also peaks during the winter as the snow pack across Canada and northern states is really good at reflecting light.

Also this week, look for Mars, Venus, and Mercury in the western sky after sunset. Venus is bright and easy to find. Directly above is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Up and to the left look for slightly orange Mars.  Regulus and Mars are about the same brightness, but much dimmer than Venus.

Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart wrote of the phenomenon Earthshine on the progressive rock trio Rush's 2002 album Vapor Trails:

"On certain nights, when the angles are right, and the moon is a slender crescent. It's circle shows, in a ghostly glow, of earthly luminescence"