孤独的景象

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen snapped a photo of the waning gibbous moon from the International Space Station as it soared 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean near the northeast coast of South America on Sept. 30, 2023.

Waning gibbous is one of eight moon phases, occurring after the full moon. The Sun always illuminates half of the Moon while the other half remains dark, but how much we can see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon travels through its orbit. As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the lighted side appears to shrink, but the Moon’s orbit is simply carrying it out of view from our perspective.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA/Andreas Mogensen

欧洲航天局（ESA）宇航员安德烈亚斯·莫根森于2023年9月30日从国际空间站拍摄了一张渐亏凸月的照片，当时国际空间站正位于南美洲东北海岸附近大西洋上空260英里处。

渐亏凸月是八个月相之一，在满月后出现。太阳总是照射到月球的一半，而另一半则保持黑暗，但随着月球在轨道上运行，我们所能看到的被照射部分会发生变化。当月球开始朝向太阳回归时，被照射的部分似乎缩小了，但实际上这只是因为从我们的视角来看，月球轨道使其逐渐消失在视野中。

图片来源: NASA、ESA/安德烈亚斯·莫根森