NASA News: Agency Releases 'Earthrise' Image
In what could be one of the most beautiful sights ever seen from outer space, NASA has released a high-resolution image of the Earth rising above the moon.
The image was captured by the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as it went around the mood on Oct. 12. The photo is only one of the series of photos that the LRO has taken.
Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said, "The image is simply stunning," further citing that the photo somehow reminded him of the "Blue Marble," the famous photo taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt 43 years ago, as part of his Apollo 17 mission.
In the image, the center of the Earth is seen off the coast of Liberia, with the Sahara Desert glorious in its tan beauty in the upper right. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans could also be seen to the left, while the moon's Compton crater is visible as it is closest to the camera.
Six years back, the LRO was launched and was able to collect a whole bunch of data that the NASA considers as treasures. Using seven instruments to get the necessary data from its mission, the LRO has largely contributed to man's knowledge of the moon and its movements.
According to the NASA, the LRO comes across 12 earthrises per day. The reason why it doesn't always capture images of the earthrise motion is due to the other activities it has to accomplish such as capturing photos of the lunar surface, as it has been originally tasked to do.
The LRO has the ability to take high-resolution black-and-white images with its Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), while the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) has lower resolution but gives color images. While it is surprising that the LRO was able to capture a colored high-res image, NASA explains that the team worked on "special processing" to come up with the final result.
The "special processing" only happens "at one particular time" so earthlings are pretty fortunate to have been able to get a glimpse of the Earth and moon in such a spectacular image.
