A single photograph of the Earth from space.

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.

earthmoon.jpg
 
mixsit said:
It seems surprising that the moon -back side facing the sun, doesn't seem nearly as bright as it is in our sky?
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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.
 
Lt. Bob said:
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.
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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?
 
mixsit said:
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?
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I'm not sure ..... maybe.
There are things that we see that a camera doesn't capture.
For instance .... that bit where the moon looks bigger close to the horizon ..... cameras just get the same size as when it's higher .... so it's possible I guess.
 
TeyshaBlue said:
That's on my bucket list....or at least any kind of launch now that the shuttle program is kaput.
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we watched it from our backyard ...... night time launches were the best.
We went down to see it up close once too and that was awesome but we got a pretty good view from our yard.
 
I would say the lack of brightness to the moon in that picture, compared to what we see when we look up, is very much due to the lack of atmosphere in space.
 
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