NASA unveils EPIC photobomb by the far side of the moon

Moon passed between Sun and Earth, taken by NASA's spacecraft in 16th July 2015.

“I’m having trouble getting over how awesome this is,” tweeted Peter Gleick, a scientist at the Pacific Institute. Al Gore called it “incredible.” Another said it was “existentially humbling.”

They’re all singing the praises of NASA’s latest visual offering: A view, from 1 million miles away, of the moon as it passes between the DSCOVR spacecraft’s “EPIC” camera and the Earth.

These images, which were taken between 3:50 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, show the moon passing over the Pacific Ocean near North America. NASA said the camera will be able to capture the moon and Earth together twice a year once it begins regular observations next month.

The view, while unique, isn’t the first glimpse we’ve had of the far side of the moon shielded from us on Earth. That distinction, NASA says, belongs to the images returned by the Soviet Luna 3 in 1959.
In 2008, NASA captured a similar view from 31 million miles a way, but they showed a moon that, unlike the latest batch, showed only a partially illuminated moon

NASA pointed out that the lunar far side doesn’t have “the large, dark, basaltic plains, or maria, that are so prominent on the Earth-facing side.” Features, however, include the Mare Moscoviense in the upper left and the Tsiolkovskiy crater in the lower left.

“It is surprising how much brighter Earth is than the moon,” said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Our planet is a truly brilliant object in dark space compared to the lunar surface.”

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