One of the many things that I really enjoy reading is an astronomy newsletter that alerts readers to various things that may be happening in the sky. On January 14 we had our first new moon of the year and I read an article about earthshine. Earthshine is a phenomenon that can occur with new moons. Since a new moon has only a sliver of the moon’s surface lit up, if the conditions outside are right, you can see a thin ring of light around the perimeter of the rest of the moon. That light is light that is reflected up onto the moon from the Earth, hence the name earthshine. Earthshine actually occurs every night, but most of the time the dim light is lost in the brighter light from the illuminated part of the moon. When I read about that, I wanted to try to get a photo, and for once, the weather actually cooperated. The night was nice and clear, which is unusual this time of year, so I took my camera and telephoto lens and grabbed a few shots. I used several different exposure levels and shutter speeds to see what I got. I’m very new to astrophotography, so I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised that none of them were horrible, but the one above was the best of the bunch. A friend recently gave me a telescope, so I look forward to taking some more images of our night sky.