Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter has
beamed home a spectacular movie of Earth eclipsing the sun as seen from the
moon.
Kaguya caught
the stunning sight on Feb. 10 and used its high definition camera to record
the moment when the Earth looked like a diamond ring.
This HDTV moment in time and space came when a penumbral
lunar eclipse occurred and the view of the sun from the Kaguya
was mostly covered by the Earth, thus the Earth
looked like a diamond ring. The moon's limb, hidden by darkness, obscures part of the lower
portion of the ring.
According to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
officials, this is the first time that this phenomenon was shot from the moon. JAXA
operates Kaguya, which launched toward the moon
in September 2007.
Eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon are lined up
perfectly. At full moon, there can be a lunar eclipse, as seen from Earth.
At new moon, there can be a solar eclipse. Because the moon orbits Earth in a
plane slightly offset compared to the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun,
eclipses don't occur every month, however. And when we're having a lunar
eclipse, anyone on the moon, at least if they're in the right spot, could see
the sun blocked by Earth.
Kaguya project manager Susumu Sasaki has
noted that the orbiter will continue
its observations until early 2009 using the main orbiter on the same orbit
of 62 miles (100 km) in altitude above the Moon. Kaguya
carried a pair of smaller microsatellites to the moon
when it launched. Those smaller craft were deployed shortly after it entered
lunar orbit.
The spacecraft will then lower its altitude sometime in
spring to perform higher accuracy and new additional
observations on the Moon's magnetic fields, plasma environment, and make other
measurements. The plan is to drop the main orbiter on the near side of the
Moon before the summer of 2009.
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