Astronomy Picture of the Day published on 2010 September 1. It is titled Earth and Moon From MESSENGER.
This week I chose the picture called Earth and Moon From MESSENGER. It is a very interesting picture of the earth and the moon from the viewpoint of someone on Mars. The person that took the picture was not actually on Mars though, but the picture was taken from a viewpoint similar to that of Mars.
The MESSENGER took this picture, and it was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. It has gone by Mercury three times since it was launched out into space in 2004, but will orbit the innermost planet in 2011, in March.
In the picture, Earth is seen with the Moon to its right. When being compared to other planets and their moons, the Earth and the Moon are comparatively close in size. In other words, the Earth has an unusually large moon. Neither of them will ever show their crescent phases from the viewpoint of Mercury, they will both appear as small circles of reflected light.
No comments:
Post a Comment