Photo of Earth and our Moon, from the Orion spacecraft
A few earlier spacecraft, on the way to Mars or Jupiter, have taken photos of the Moon and Earth from this distance, but I have never seen a shot with this much clarity. (Orion is in a much wider orbit than the Apollo craft were).
And this also gives me a chance to babble again about one of my pet peeves: the far side of the moon, which obviously is facing us in the picture, is not a "dark side". It gets as much light as the near side does.
@DrWatson I remember seeing I think it was Mars and the moon in one sight in my telescope and I got the same feeling. It was like "we live on spheres" and there other real spheres out there too"
@JimboSaturn I have a telescope too. I have seen Saturn on the moon's horizon, which was pretty cool. I haven't gotten Mars and the Moon in a single view yet.
@DrWatson Lolz. The moon is way smaller than earth right? Even if the pic was taken when the moon is in between the earth and satellite that took the pic…. ( a satellite eclipse if you will) My brains telling me it would be smaller. Even from a distance I’d expect to see a big ball and a little ball 😁
@ThaiGirl It is smaller than the earth. But the moon is close to the camera, so it looks big, and the earth is far away in the background, so it looks small.
On a night with a full moon, you can cover the entire moon with your thumb! Try it some time. That's because your thumb is closer to your eye than the moon is.
@jshm2 I wish that were true. But I have talked with people who have no idea what causes phases, who think the far side is perpetually in shadow.
When I encounter those people, either on SW or in my offline life, I explain it to them respectfully. I do not sink to name calling or tell them they're ignorant.
These days the lollipop given by politicians to million people at once , is more intriguing than the things outer than earth .
If people will live more , they will explore more , but the damaging life on earth that they go through every day , reduces their desire to live or explore world as well .
The only reason people call it the dark side is that we don't ever get to see that side of it from Earth. It's a very Earth-centric term, and I always find it amusing.
@LordShadowfire I wish that were the only reason. I have talked to people who do believe the far side is always dark, and they are quite surprised when I explain it.
