Incredible New Images From Artemis 2 Show Earth From The Dark Side of the Moon 🌘

Wow. Just, look. 🌘

The First Photos From Artemis II’s Journey Around the Moon

On Monday, four people saw something no human ever had: the far side of the moon, with their own eyes.

The moon eclipses the sun in a view captured by the Artemis II crew on Monday. NASA

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen spent seven hours circling the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, photographing its ancient craters and dark plains from an altitude no person had reached since Apollo.

The far side, which is permanently hidden from Earth by tidal locking, has existed until now only in robotic photographs and imagination.

Earth setting over the edge of the visible surface of the moon, called the “lunar limb,” on Monday. NASA via AFP – Getty Images

The first image released is an “Earthset”: Earth itself disappearing behind the moon’s edge, photographed from the far side.

It’s the quiet inverse of the famous “Earthrise” shot from Apollo 8 in 1968. Same moment, other direction. Our entire world, going dark.

A crescent Earth setting along the Moon’s limb on Monday.NASA via AFP – Getty Images

A second photograph might be even more striking. As the crew completed their flyby Monday evening, the sun passed behind the moon, and they witnessed a solar eclipse from space.

Their image shows the moon’s silhouette ringed by the sun’s corona. They are the first people to ever see that.

A total solar eclipse Monday with only part of the moon visible in the frame as it fully obscures the sun.NASA via AFP – Getty Images

A dark celestial body silhouetted against a starry background, with a glowing halo around its circumference.

During the flyby, Glover described the terminator: the line between light and shadow on the lunar surface, as producing “islands of light” among deep valleys. Koch noted that young impact craters glowed unexpectedly bright against older terrain, “like pinholes in a lampshade.”

One of their targets was the Orientale basin: a 600-mile-wide crater formed 3.8 billion years ago, straddling both sides of the moon.

A portion of the moon along the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night where low-angle sunlight casts long, dramatic shadows across the surface, as seen from the Orion spacecraft on Monday.NASA via AFP – Getty Images

At their farthest point, the crew was 252,756 miles from Earth — a new record for human distance from home, surpassing Apollo 13’s unintended mark from 1970 by more than 4,100 miles.

The sun begins to peek out from behind the moon as the eclipse transitions out of totality on Monday.NASA via Getty Images

Now on their way home, they’re scheduled to splash down in the Pacific off San Diego on Friday. The full image collection follows after that.

A view of Earth from space, showing the blue oceans, white clouds, and some landmasses, with a dark background dotted with stars.

Close-up image of the moon displaying its craters and surface texture against a black background. — In this fully illuminated view of the moon, the near side (the hemisphere visible from Earth) is seen on the right. The large crater at the lower left is Orientale basin.NASA

Close-up view of the Moon's surface, showcasing detailed craters and geological features against a black background.

A close-up view of the Moon's surface with craters, displaying Earth partially visible in the background.

Images via NASA.

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1 Comment

Zachary Bergen 10 hours ago

You’d think that given the global perspective from space that our entire species (minus Artemis II crew) would cherish the beautiful diversity that we share yet we sow so much conflict. Perhaps we’re not ready to interact with the local system. Here’s to hoping.

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