BackNASA shares a splendid picture of Earth and Moon in one frame. See here
The picture that NASA shared was captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) when the Earth was 142 million kilometres from Mars.
PremiumThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared an astounding picture of the planet Earth and its Moon against the dark backdrop of space captured from a Martian orbit, and its everything to make you feel amazed.
The picture that NASA shared was captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) when the Earth was 142 million kilometres from Mars.
“Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this glimpse of Earth and the Moon. Each of our seven robots now working at Mars is really a #NASAEarthling, acting as our eyes as they explore the Red Planet – deepening our understanding of and appreciation for our blue one.," NASA wrote.
See the picture here
In the picture, Earth appears in blue and the moon looks white against the dark backdrop. Clouds are the dominant feature in the Earth image, it showed the west coast outline of South America at the lower right. The image was taken by MRO's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, NASA said.
Although the image was taken in October 2007, it has been again shared by NASA this week.
NASA said in a statement that at the time the image was captured the phase angle was 98 degrees, meaning that less than half of the disk of the Earth and the disk of the moon have direct illumination. NASA said the MRO can image Earth and moon at full disk illumination only when they are on the opposite side of the Sun from Mars. But there's one problem: the range would be much greater and the image would have less detail compared to this one.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched in August 2005 and it was inserted into Mars orbit in March 2006. Its primary objective was to learn more about the Red Planet, including the history of water flows on or near the Martian surface. It has also been a key data relay station for other Mars missions.
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