{"id":11140,"date":"2015-08-05T14:35:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T18:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11140"},"modified":"2015-08-05T14:41:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-05T18:41:21","slug":"video-watch-the-moon-cross-the-face-of-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11140","title":{"rendered":"Video: Watch the Moon cross the face of Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great views of the Moon transiting across the face of the Earth have been taken by\u00a0the DSCOVR<\/a>\u00a0science spacecraft, which was launched<\/a> to the Earth-Sun Lagrange point L-1<\/a> back in February on a SpaceX<\/a> Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From a Million Miles: The Moon Crossing the Face of Earth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"epicearthmoonstill[1]\"<\/a>
This image shows the far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) camera and telescope, and the Earth – one million miles away. Credits: NASA\/NOAA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click for larger image<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured a unique view of the moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth last month. The series of test images shows the fully illuminated \u201cdark side\u201d of the moon that is never visible from Earth.<\/p>\n

The images were captured by NASA\u2019s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope on the DSCOVR satellite orbiting 1 million miles from Earth. From its position between the sun and Earth, DSCOVR conducts its primary mission of real-time solar wind monitoring for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).<\/p>\n

EPIC maintains a constant view of the fully illuminated Earth as it rotates, providing scientific observations of ozone, vegetation, cloud height and aerosols in the atmosphere. Once EPIC begins regular observations next month, the camera will provide a series of Earth images allowing study of daily variations over the entire globe. About twice a year the camera will capture the moon and Earth together as the orbit of DSCOVR crosses the orbital plane of the moon.<\/p>\n

These images were taken between 3:50 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, showing the moon moving over the Pacific Ocean near North America.<\/strong> The North Pole is in the upper left corner of the image, reflecting the orbital tilt of Earth from the vantage point of the spacecraft.<\/p>\n