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                      |                                                       | Young moon, refracted by atmosphere |                              |  |                              | Wonderful timelapse from Mike Cohea showing the October 20 young moon - only 1.3% illuminated - setting over Newport, Rhode Island, being refracted by Earth's atmosphere. |                              |  |  | 
                      |                                                       | What is an astronomical unit? |                              |  |                              | Astronomers use astronomical units - or AU - to describe solar system distances. Definition of AU here. Also, mean distances in AU to prominent solar system objects. |                              |  |  |