Space Swoon: NASA releases gorgeous image of Earth rising over the Moon’s surface
As a nod to the legacy of the famous “Earthrise” photo, NASA has released a new image captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that shows our beloved planet rising over the lunar horizon in all its vivid glory.
“The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, a scientist working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.”
The new image is actually a composite of several photos captured on Oct. 12 when the LRO was traveling 83 miles above the moon’s Compton Crater.
Of course, capturing such inspiring images of the Earth and moon using the orbiter camera is no easy task. As NASA explains:
“First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC’s Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!”It may have taken a lot of logistics and technical maneuvering, but judging from the final product above, all the hard work was well worth it.