When the Moon appears as a thin crescent in the twilight skies of Earth it is often possible to see that the rest of the disc is also faintly glowing. This phenomenon is called earthshine. It is due to sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the lunar surface. After reflection from Earth the colors in the light, shown as a rainbow in this picture, are significantly changed. By observing earthshine astronomers can study the properties of light reflected from Earth as if it were an exoplanet and search for signs of life. The reflected light is also strongly polarized and studying the polarization as well as the intensity at different colors allows for much more sensitive tests for the presence of life.
Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada; video credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Note: For more information, see VLT Rediscovers Life on Earth.
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