Starship Asterisk*

Venus, Moon, and the Smoking Mountain

Explanation: Venus has returned as a brilliant morning star. From a window seat on a flight to Mexico City, the bright celestial beacon was captured just before sunrise in this astronomical snapshot, taken on September 12. Venus, at the upper right, shared the early predawn skies with an old crescent Moon. Seen from this stratospheric perspective, both mountain peaks and clouds appear in silhouette along a glowing eastern horizon. The dramatic, long, low cloud bank was created by venting from planet Earth's active volcano Popocatépetl.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

Nice to have this picture on the eve of Mexico's Independence Day.

How nice; we get a Blue harvest moon this month! Now I think that
is pretty neat! My opinion!

Gorgeous composition. I find the proximity of the city lights to the erupting volcano a bit concerning.

Avalon, In reality, the nearest town is about 20 km away.

The image came through the NASA App upside down.
I thought I was looking at a reflection.