That’s No Moon! It’s A…No…Wait..It Is A Moon.
Allow me a Keanu Reeves-like “Whoa” here. This video, from the Deep Impact spacecraft is truly awe-inspiring.
What makes it so astonishing for me is summed up very well by Phil Plait:
Take a look at that, folks. It’s us, seen from 50 million kilometers away. I’ve seen many images of the Earth and Moon together as taken by distant spacecraft, but this, seeing them in motion, really brings home — if I may use that highly ironic term — just where we are: a planetary system, an astronomical body, a blue orb hanging in space orbited by a desolate moon. This is a view that is literally impossible from the ground. Only a spacefaring race gets the privilege of this view from a height.
Yes, indeed.
There is a lot more to be seen at the EPOXI website. If you like stuff spacefaring, it’ll take up an hour or two.
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Category: General
