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| 'Earthset' (Image: NASA) |
The first images that the Artemis II astronauts took during their lunar flyby have been made public by Nasa. The first image, above, shows an 'Earthset' as the astronauts glimpsed our home planet peeking out beyond a cratered lunar landscape.
READ MORE: Has Artemis II shown we can land on the Moon again?
The spectacular solar eclipse that the astronauts witnessed as the Moon obscured the Sun is depicted in the second image below. The identity of the astronauts who took the photographs, who are currently traveling back to Earth following the flyby, was not specified by Nasa.
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| The solar eclipse which the astronauts witnessed, with the Moon blocking out the Sun (Image: NASA) |
The famous Earthrise photograph taken by Bill Anders aboard Apollo 8 in 1968 during the moon flyby that preceded the historic first human landing the following year was echoed in the Earthset image. One of the most well-known images of the environment ever taken is the view of a fragile blue planet against the deep space background. The astronauts took the photos during a six-hour flyby, including a period of radio silence when their capsule was behind the Moon.
Nasa said in its description that the Earthrise photograph was captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 18:41Eastern Daylight Time (2341BST) on Monday.
"The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth's day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region," Nasa said.
"The Ohm crater in the foreground has terraced edges and a flat floor that is broken up by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater's formation.'
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| The glow of the Sun's corona was visible around the Moon's edge during the eclipse, along with Venus in the bottom left corner of this picture (Image: NASA) |
Even on this extraordinary journey, witnessing a lunar eclipse when the Moon obscured the Sun was a highlight for the astronauts. The Sun's corona can be seen around the Moon's edge in the image above. From Earth, solar eclipses last only a few seconds, but Nasa said that because Orion was close to the Moon, the astronauts saw nearly 54 minutes of totality. The bright spot to the left of the frame is Venus.
Victor Glover described the eclipse as "sci-fi" and "unreal", also describing the view of the corona of the Sun.
"This continues to be unreal," he said. "The Sun is now behind the Moon, but the bright corona, which forms a halo almost entirely around the moon, is still visible. "The Moon is just hanging in front of us, and the Earth is so bright out there."
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| Nasa called this picture of the lunar surface 'Ready for a close up' (Image: NASA) |
Despite the fact that satellite images of the Moon's far side have been taken in the nearly five decades since the last human landing in 1972, Nasa stated that the astronauts' personal experience during the flyby was priceless. The crew recorded audio descriptions of what they saw, and the scientists at Nasa will look over these notes for new information. The following photograph shows Earthrise as our planet came back into the astronauts' view after their time behind the Moon.
Source: BBC
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