Earth ID: 4408

LROC Earthset

Released on December 15, 2015

The Earth straddling the limb of the Moon, as seen from above Compton crater (51.8°N, 124.1°E). The center of the Earth in this view is 4.05°S, 12.48°W, about 1100 kilometers due south of Sierra Leone. The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara desert, and just beyond is the Arabian Peninsula. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. WAC E1199291151C (Earth only), NAC M1199291564LR (Earth and Moon); sequence start time 12 October 2015 12:18:17.384 UTC.

This image of the Earth setting behind the lunar horizon was taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) on October 12, 2015. The image is a composite of pixels from the narrow-angle (NAC) and wide-angle (WAC) sensors. Here, it has been cropped to a 16:9 frame aspect for display on NASA's hyperwall.

Because the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, an observer on the Moon doesn't actually see the Earth rise and set. The setting that's occurring in this instance is caused by the orbital motion of the spacecraft.

For More Information

LROC: Looking over the Limb

Visualization Credits

Mark Robinson (Arizona State University): Lead Scientist
Ernie Wright (USRA): Graphics

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4408

Mission:
LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

Data Used:

LRO/LROC/Narrow Angle Camera also referred to as: NAC

October 12, 2015

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LRO/Wide Angle Camera also referred to as: LROC WAC

Observed Data - October 12, 2015

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
SVS >> Moon
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> LRO
SVS >> LROC
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Presentation