#DeadMoonRock
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"I've got a world of badgers, and thushes, and jellyfish, and corals. Why would I want to go and live on the moon? Because there's nothing else there but dust. I'd say 'Well, thank you very much but I'll stay where I am and watch hummingbirds.' "

#BigBlueMarble vs #DeadMoonRock
#ThereIsNoPlanetB
Sir David Attenborough | 60 Minutes Archive
YouTube video by 60 Minutes
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May 9, 2026 at 4:49 PM
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More #photographichistory : Earth straddling the limb of the Moon captured by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on October 12, 2015, in orbit as close as 12 miles (20km) from the surface, much much closer than Artemis II  #BlueTue #RobotsInSpace #UncrewedExploration 
#BigBlueMarble vs #DeadMoonRock
Earthrise over Compton crater, photo by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, in orbit around the moon since 2009), NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University, 12 Oct 2015. The shadow in foreground is from the crater's central peaks. The center of the Earth in this view is 4.04°N, 12.44°W, just off the coast of Liberia. The large tan area in upper right is the Sahara desert, and just beyond is Saudia Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. Image was taken when LRO was 134 km above the farside crater Compton (51.8°N, 124.1°E). First the spacecraft was rolled to the side (in this case 67°), then the spacecraft slewed with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in the NAC image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling over 1600 meters per second (faster than 3580 mph) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft. As a result of these three motions and the fact that the Narrow Angle Camera is a line scanner the raw image geometry is distorted. The colors are only approximately what an intrepid explorer would see from the Moon because the human eye is fully sensitive to all colors across the visible wavelength range, whereas the WAC sees through a set of narrow band filters (combining 604 nm (orange), 556 nm (yellow-green), and 415 nm (violet) bands displayed in red, green, and blue, respectively). The Earth is much brighter (higher reflectance) than the Moon, especially from this angle; the Earth was captured near noon while the limb of the Moon was just appearing from the shadows of night, so the Moon was relatively dim. In the image the Moon and Earth were contrast-stretched separately to bring out details on the lunar surface. The contrast makes for a spectacular image, but it may be misleading in a purely scientific sense. The sharp black outline across the bottom of the Earth is from mountains still on the night side of the lunar terminator. (Wikipedia)
April 14, 2026 at 4:46 PM
tonynuspl.bsky.social
from a decade ago: Moon transiting Earth, 16 July 2015. The far side of the Moon faces the camera. Image taken aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), at a distance much further than Artemis II. author: NASA/EPIC
#RobotsinSpace #photographichistory
#UncrewedExploration
#DeadMoonRock
NASA satellite image of the far side of the Moon, illuminated by the Sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and telescope, and the Earth — one million miles (1.6 million km) away. The times of the images span from 3:50 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, 2015. The time of the New Moon was at 9:26 p.m. EDT on July 15. (screencap via Wikipedia) The animation version would not load to Bluesky (error msg: ozone_check_failed) but you can find it in the public domain (available as both .gif and .web versions).
April 16, 2026 at 6:29 PM