Earthrise by KAGUYA
Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 10:46 UTC
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world's first high-definition image taking of an Earthrise by the lunar explorer KAGUYA (SELENE).
Earthrise is a phenomenon seen only from spacecraft orbiting the Moon. The Earthrise cannot be observed by a person who is on the Moon as they can always see the Earth at the same position.
The Apollo project was the first mission to take images of Earth rising over the Moon. The KAGUYA successfully shot high-definition images of the Earth-rise showing an impressive image of the blue Earth which was the only floating object in pitch-dark space. These are the world's first high-definition earth images taken from about 380,000 km away from the earth in space.
The image taking was performed by the KAGUYA's onboard high definition television (HDTV) for space use developed by NHK. The moving image data acquired by the KAGUYA was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center, and processed by NHK.
The satellite was confirmed to be in good health through telemetry data received at the Usuda station.
See the movie here.
Image Credit: JAXA/NHK
High resolution image
This still image was cut out from a moving image (wide shot) taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA at 05:52 UTC on November 7, 2007 then sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center.
In the image, the Moon's surface is near the North Pole, and the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean can be observed on the Earth.
Image Credit: JAXA/NHK
High resolution image
This still image was cut out from a moving image (tele shot) taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA at 03:07 UTC on November 7, 2007 then sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center.
In the image, the Moon's surface is near the South Pole, and we can see the Australian Continent (center left) and the Asian Continent (lower right) on the Earth. (In this image, the upper side of the Earth is the Southern Hemisphere, thus the Australian Continent looks upside-down.)
Image Credit: JAXA/NHK
High resolution image
The images above are the Earth setting to the horizon near the Moon's South Pole. It took about 70 seconds from the left image to the right image (complete setting.)
| Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency | |
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