Earth-Set
Published on Nov 14, 2007 at 10:17 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under moon, space exploration.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released some really nice images collected by their Kaguya (SELENE) spacecraft that has been orbiting the Moon for about the past month. These images were taken in high definition, so they are among the best such pictures ever taken. There is also a movie of the event.
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The term “Earth-set” is a bit of a misnomer, though, since this is a phenominon that can generally only be seen from lunar orbit, rather than from the surface of the Moon. The Moon rotates once per orbit, so it keeps the same side towards Earth at all times. More or less, that is. Actually, the Moon does wobble a bit, something called libration. If you were in exactly the right spot on the edge of the Moon, then this libration might cause the the Earth to hover right on the horizon, sometimes poking above it, and sometimes below. But, for most of the lunar surface, the Earth is either always up, or never up, so there is no rising and setting.
 These pictures of Earth-rise and Earth-set seem from Kaguya remind me of some photos taken almost 39 years ago. In December 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the Moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to ever see the Earth rise and set from lunar orbit, and they took the following photograph, which I have hanging in my office.
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The Kaguya pictures are of higher quality, but they can not detract from the historical significance of the earlier pictures. But, besides sending back some pretty pictures, the Kaguya spacecraft is working just fine, and it is sending back great data. Kaguya has already been joined by China’s Chang’e spacecraft, and it will soon be joined by others. I am really happy to see such a renewed interest in studying our nearest celestial neighbor. The Moon has been overlooked for far too long.
 -Astroprof
 Images courtesy JAXA, NASA
Earth4Energy on January 2, 2009 at 10:00 pm: 1
It’s really crazy when you look at the picture and realize that you’re like looking at yourself as like a mini ant.
Cool Blog!