Author
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Topic: Earth and moon as seen from Mars (HiRISE)
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-06-2017 01:15 PM
NASA photo release From the most powerful telescope orbiting Mars comes a new view of Earth and its moon, showing continent-size detail on the planet and the relative size of the moon.The image combines two separate exposures taken on Nov. 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images were taken to calibrate HiRISE data, since the reflectance of the moon's Earth-facing side is well known. For presentation, the exposures were processed separately to optimize detail visible on both Earth and the moon. The moon is much darker than Earth and would barely be visible if shown at the same brightness scale as Earth. The combined view retains the correct positions and sizes of the two bodies relative to each other. The distance between Earth and the moon is about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Earth and the moon appear closer than they actually are in this image because the observation was planned for a time at which the moon was almost directly behind Earth, from Mars' point of view, to see the Earth-facing side of the moon. In the image, the reddish feature near the middle of the face of Earth is Australia. When the component images were taken, Mars was about 127 million miles (205 million kilometers) from Earth. With HiRISE and five other instruments, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been investigating Mars since 2006. |
MCroft04 Member Posts: 1634 From: Smithfield, Me, USA Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 01-07-2017 07:49 AM
That is pretty darn neat! |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 01-07-2017 08:16 AM
As men busied themselves with their various concerns, they were being watched and studied...Across the gulf of space... intellects vast and unsympathetic regarded our Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew up their plans against us. — H.G. WELLS. |
moorouge Member Posts: 2454 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-07-2017 08:54 AM
As I recall they forgot to take into account those microbes that had no or little effect on humans. So, perhaps we should be wary of importing alien material onto our planet. |
cspg Member Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
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posted 01-07-2017 09:28 AM
There's one big typhoon south of the Philippines! |
Philip Member Posts: 5952 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 01-07-2017 10:42 AM
Amazing image taken about 50 years after the American Lunar Orbiter 1 made the first photograph of Earth from an orbit around the Moon in August 1966. Earth and Moon are a great pair from that distance... |
astrobar1 Member Posts: 112 From: Mishawaka, IN, USA Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 01-09-2017 07:24 AM
Very cool, indeed! It shows what a short distance mankind has traveled so far. Kinda like visiting a small island offshore from the mainland. |
Wehaveliftoff Member Posts: 2343 From: Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 01-09-2017 05:01 PM
Interesting that the moon looks not that different than what we see on Earth. |