Crescent Moon Photos from Around the World (7 pictures)

Venus and the Moon on 1-10-13 from Tucson, Arizona. Credit and copyright: Robert Sparks

For the past week or so, we’ve had either a waxing or waning crescent Moon (save for the New Moon on January 11) and astrophotographers have been out in full force capturing the beauty of this sliver of light, and sometimes, like the image above by Rob Sparks (hale_bopp37 on Flickr) even a little Earthshine. Enjoy these stunning photos from our readers around the world!

Luna, January 14, 2013. Credit and copyright: Raymond Gilchrist

The 2% waxing crescent Moon at sunset, January 12, 2013. Credit and copyright, Tavi Greiner.

Waxing crescent Moon on January 14, 2013 from London, England. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil on Flickr.

The crescent Moon taken at sunrise on January 9, 2013 from Carmyllie, Scotland. Credit and copyright: Mike Walton.

Earthshine on January 15, 2013 from Kuala Lumpur. Credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad.

The crescent Moon — the ‘easy way’ — a hand-held camera, no tripod, just a Lumix DMC-FZ48 at maximum optical zoom. Credit and copyright: Daniel Fischer.

Astrophotographer (and blogger) Daniel Fischer notes that his image, above, was taken freehand with a simple camera, “a ‘work’ of a few seconds,” he said. “Might encourage others to give it a try with their own cameras.”