Earthshine: not just for romantics

Abstract

This article presents a technique for measuring Earth's albedo by observing earthshine on the Moon. Albedo governs the amount of energy entering the climate system from the Sun and small variations correspond to significant climate changes. This technique is based on relative photometry of the dark and bright side of the Moon, obtained with small rugged autonomous telescopes. The observations and the techniques also have wider applications.

© Royal Astronomical Society 2008