On 21 December 1968 started from the Kennedy Space Center, the Apollo 8 mission, set to become the first to bring humans into orbit around a celestial body that is not our own planet. Perhaps to celebrate this anniversary, NASA has released a new image of the Earth “is” seen from the Moon , taken by Lunar Recoinassance Orbiter (LRO).
In the picture composite which can be seen below (click here for high resolution version) you can see the Earth rising over the lunar horizon from the point of view of the spacecraft , with the western coast of Africa at the center shooting. Top center you can see Sicily, southern Sardinia and around the center-south of Italy, while the northern part of the boot is covered by clouds. On the left you see instead the eastern coast of South America. The lunar landscape is instead a detail of the crater Compton, located on the side of the Moon.
The images that make up this incredible photos were captured on October 12, when LRO was about 134 km from lunar surface traveling at a relative speed of 1,600 meters per second . From a technical standpoint, the most interesting aspect of the shot is the way in which the color has been added to photos taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of LRO, designed to obtain high-resolution black and white of the lunar surface : photos were combined with those obtained from the NAC’s wide-angle camera, which has less resolution but “sees” colors.
“From the Earth, the rising and setting of the moon are always moments of inspiration,” says Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, in charge of LRO cameras. “However, lunar astronauts will see something very different: a view from the lunar surface the Earth does not arise or pass away . Since the Moon is in synchronous rotation (rotation time equal to that of revolution, ed), the Earth is in the same spot over the horizon “.
In fact, you can not get an image of the Earth rising from the moon when you are on the surface our satellite : to take this photo you need to move around the Moon itself, as did the Apollo 8 astronauts (and subsequent missions) in 1968.
The first image of the Earth rising behind the moon was taken in 1966 by the probe Lunar Orbiter 1. The first pictures of this type made by a human being is, however, as said, the astronauts of Apollo 8 : the evening of December 24, 1968 Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders orbitarono for the first time around our satellite, broadcasting on Earth first images of the Moon and in turn read some passages from the book of Genesis.
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