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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

EARTH AND MOON FROM 6 MILLION MILES AWAY

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s solar-powered spacecraft Juno captured this image of Earth and our moon from 6 million miles/9,656,064 kilometers away on 26 August 2011—three weeks into its 1.7-trillion mile/2.8-trillion kilometer 5-year voyage to Jupiter.

From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory page:

"This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves."

UPDATE:

You might have noticed what seems to be a great distance between Earth and our moon in the photo above. Here's a great short video explaining why we perceive it thus. Thanks to Jason R for pointing the way in his comment, below.



Plus, an image of Juno itself, intrepid wanderer of the solar system.

Credit: NASA/JPL.

 
Here's where Juno is currently.

Credit: NASA/JPL.




  
And here's its interplanetary trajectory.

Credit: NASA/JPL.

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