A Japanese
spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed back stunning footage of a round, blue
Earth rising above the lunar horizon.
The high-definition
video camera aboard Japan's lunar orbiter Kaguya caught the rare view of the
full Earth as it rose above the moon's horizon on April 5, the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said in a recent statement after releasing a short
video of the event.
"This is
the first time that a high-[definition] image of the 'Full Earth-rise' has been
captured from space," JAXA officials said.
The sun,
Earth, moon and Kaguya have to line up just right in order to present a full,
orb-like Earth to the spacecraft's camera, an arrangement that only occurs
about twice a year, they added.
The three-ton
Kaguya spacecraft recorded the rising Earth view from lunar orbit at a distance
of about 236,121 miles (380,000 km) from its home planet.
The probe's
high-definition television camera, which was provided by the Japan Broadcasting
Corporation (NHK), has recorded an Earthrise before during a
Nov. 7, 2007 orbit. But that pass caught a waning Earth, not the full,
bright disc spotted on April 5, JAXA officials said.
Named after
a moon princess in a Japanese folktale, Japan's Kaguya spacecraft launched
toward the moon in September 2007 on a one-year mission to explore the
lunar surface. JAXA officials have since said that the flight of Kaguya, also
known as the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE), may be extended.
The 55
billion-yen ($480 million) orbiter carries 14 science instruments, including
the high-definition camera, to study the lunar surface from an altitude of
about 62 miles (100 km). The probe has also successfully deployed two miniature
satellites to map the moon's gravitational field.
advertisement
