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.
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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.
