I just caught this too at APOD, and here..Stunning - this is the side of the moon we never see, as it passes between the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite (DSCOVR) and the Earth.
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well. it IS the dark side of the moon ...... BOOM!It seems surprising that the moon -back side facing the sun, doesn't seem nearly as bright as it is in our sky?
you can just see them on the lower left!
I saw the space shuttle take off in Florida years ago with my own two eyes. That was a helluva fake!
Makes sense. Just wandering then, might there also be in play here the limited dynamic range (probably not the right words..) of the camera vs our sight? In other words, if we were looking from the same place, wouldn't the moon be bright in spite of the 'bigger brighter earth?well. it IS the dark side of the moon ...... BOOM!
Actually it would be because it's in front of the back drop of a very bright Earth.
When we see it in the night sky it's against a backdrop of black ..... so it's very bright compared to that and pics of it have the camera wide open to get as much light as possible.
But here the Earth is reflecting even more light than the moon is if only because it's so much bigger ...... so in comparison the moon looks darker than we normally see it.
I'm not sure ..... maybe.Makes sense. Just wandering then, might there also be in play here the limited dynamic range (probably not the right words..) of the camera vs our sight? In other words, if we were looking from the same place, wouldn't the moon be bright in spite of the 'bigger brighter earth?
we watched it from our backyard ...... night time launches were the best.That's on my bucket list....or at least any kind of launch now that the shuttle program is kaput.