An Eclipse of The Earth

Earth Eclipse



That Even Comes with A Diamond!

The Japanese spacecraft Kaguya has captured the Moon eclipsing planet Earth for the first time. We've had several stunning eclipses lately, and we expect another fabulous solar eclipse in China this July. But we see all those eclipses from planet Earth. Kaguya has seen 'an inverse' Moon eclipse - an eclipse of Earth seen from the Moon. And it comes with a diamond. :-)





Here is a schematic description of an Earth eclipse as seen from the Moon:








You go directly to the JAXA source by clicking on the images (as usual) and here is a couple of other perspectives on the event:

Nancy Atkinson's in Universe Today: Kaguya captures eclipse - from the Moon
Phil Plait's in Bad Astronomy: What does a lunar eclipse look like from the Moon

Earth Rise

Earth Rise with Kaguya



The lunar explorer KAGUYA initially captured the right-side waned "Earth-rise" in November 2007 with its high-vision camera, but this time, it succeeded in capturing the "Full Earth-rise" without any wane. This is the first time that a high-vision image of the "Full Earth-rise" has been captured from space, 380,000 kilometers away from Earth.
To capture the Full Earth, the Moon, Earth, Sun and KAGUYA's circulating orbits have to fall into a straight line. This peculiar positioning occurs only 2 times a year.


Earth Rise

Earth Set





The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) launched "KAGUYA (SELENE)" September 14, 2007 from Tanegashima Space Center. The major objectives of the "KAGUYA" mission are to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration. "KAGUYA" consists of a main orbiting satellite at about 100km altitude and two small satellites (Relay Satellite and VRAD Satellite) in polar orbit. The orbiters will carry instruments for scientific investigation of the Moon, on the Moon, and from the Moon.

Awesome.

Go Japan! :-)






This is a little something, something for my moon fan friend.