Amazing Moon Gallery

Rising Earth about five degrees above the lunar horizon

This December, 1968 NASA file image shows the rising Earth is about five degrees above the lunar horizon in this telephoto view taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft. The horizon, about 570 kilometers (250 statute miles) from the spacecraft, is near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from the Earth. On the earth, the sunset terminator crosses Africa. The south pole is in the white area near the left end of the terminator. North and South America are under the clouds. The lunar surface probably has less pronounced color than indicated by this print. AFP PHOTO/NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / HO

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Us-Space-Apollo 17 30th Anniv. Earth Image

This 07 December 1972 NASA file image obtained 06 December, 2002 shows a view of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew, Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. Schmidt as they traveled toward the moon. The view extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This was the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the southern hemisphere. The O7 December 2002 marks the 30th anniversary of this famous image on the final Apollo mission. AFP PHOTO/NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / NASA

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Us-Space-Earth-Moon

This 16 December, 1992 NASA file image captured 8 days after its encounter with Earth, the Galileo spacecraft looked back from a distance of about 6.2 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) to capture this remarkable view of the Moon in orbit about Earth. The composite photograph was constructed from images taken through visible (violet, red) and near- infrared filters. The Moon is in the foreground; its orbital path is from left to right. Brightly colored Earth contrasts strongly with the Moon, which reacts only about one-third as much sunlight as our world. To improve the visibility of both bodies, contrast and color have been computer enhanced. At the bottom of Earth's disk, Antarctica is visible through clouds. The Moon's far side can also be seen. The shadowy indentation in the Moon's dawn terminator--the boundary between its dark and lit sides--is the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest and oldest lunar impact features. AFP PHOTO/ NASA / AFP PHOTO / NASA / NASA

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