New 'Earthset' Photo Gives Earthlings A Unique Glimpse At Our Own Home
In addition to seeing parts of the moon that human eyes have never seen before, NASA's Artemis II crew has continued to send stunning pictures of Earth back to Earth. One of their photography goals was to recreate the famous Earthrise photo from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to fly around the moon back in 1968. The result is a little different than the previous photo, but no less stunning.
It's not possible to tell from a still photo, but this one was actually taken as the Earth was "setting" behind the moon rather than rising above it, at least from the perspective of the Artemis II astronauts. They're calling this one "Earthset" as a result, and to distinguish it from the earlier photo. In both cases, the photographers rotated the camera 90 degrees so the moon is at the bottom of the picture, making it easier for us to relate to the familiar scene of a sunset or moonrise, except that's our home in the distance, not the foreground.
The new photo is much darker than the original, perhaps an unintended but accurate reflection of the less optimistic times we're living in. The actual reason is the different relative positions of the sun, Earth, and moon, casting larger shadows at different angles than during the previous mission. The Earth is also already halfway behind the moon in this photo. That's either a deliberate composition choice, or simply a matter of timing as the Integrity capsule swung behind the moon, sending humans farther away from Earth than ever before, 252,756 miles, breaking the distance record Apollo 13 set in 1970.
A new view of our home
This photo, "The Edge of Two Worlds," is from a few minutes earlier, taken from the astronauts' perspective relative to our orbit around the sun. It looks like a screen grab from a modern remake of "Space 1999," except this is real, and those cool Eagle spaceships from the show aren't.
As Artemis II began its long journey back to Earth, it flew around the back side of the moon and witnessed a total solar eclipse from its perspective. Though backlit by the sun, a crescent of light is visible on the left side, thanks to sunlight reflected off the Earth. I find myself agreeing with Commander Reid Wiseman, who said, "If you could give me about 20 new superlatives in the mission summary tomorrow, it would help my vocabulary out a bit," in trying to describe it here. Perhaps, like Pilot Victor Glover said, "Humans probably have not evolved to see what we're seeing."
Rather than film cameras, the crew is using the Nikon D5 DSLR, reports PetaPixel. It's an older camera with excellent low-light performance, making it the perfect choice for this mission. Another benefit is that we're receiving this small selection of digital photos before the astronauts even arrive home. Many more will undoubtedly follow once they can dump the contents of their SD cards and NASA shares the full collection.
I admit, when I first heard of the plan to send a mission around the moon, I had trouble getting excited about simply repeating what Apollo 8 first accomplished over 50 years ago. But as launch day approached, then happened, and the pictures, video, and livestreams started coming back, I found wonder and excitement that I haven't felt in a long time. I never thought I'd get to see a moon shot in my lifetime. But here we are, marveling at a moon mission while dreading a potential nuclear war, just like the 1960s. We need some positivity right now, and Artemis II is delivering, not just to the U.S. but to the entire world.