The images of the dark side of the moon were taken on July 16 when the moon was orbiting near North America over the Pacific Ocean between 3:50 pm and 8:45 pm EDT. The pictures reveal a huge crater on the dark side of the moon at the South Pole-Aitken Basin. As NASA reports, it is one of the largest craters in the Solar System. Just a few weeks back, NASA released the pictures showing the far side of the SUN as well. We had only come to see the dark side of the moon for the very first time in 1959 when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 sent the images. As the moon is tidally locked to the Earth, we always happen to see the same Earthshine side of the moon.
The pictures were taken from one million miles from Earth by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope on the DSCOVR. The spacecraft has to go all over to the backside of the moon to get these images. Also, in this mission, the spacecraft can clearly see the sunlit moon as well. The other side of the moon is not devoid of light as the phrase “dark side of the moon” usually lead to, but is never visible from Earth, therefore, gets that name.
Astronomers are calling the pictures of the dark side of the moon captivating, which when compared to the Earth shows how much brighter is our planet than the moon. Seeing the moon from such a close range is entirely different and gives a new perspective when seen from the Earth.
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