Moon Seen from Farside, Passing Before Earth

[bison]

The Deep Space Climate Observer satellite has revealed an interesting view of the Moon, seen from its far side, passing in front of the Earth. The satellite is about one million miles out, and the Moon appears somewhere between and half and one third the size of the Earth.

Individual images were combined to make a short, time-lapse video of this conjunction. The western parts of North and South American can be seen, rotating across the Earth's disk. Link to video, below:

http://www.space.com...apse-video.html

Edited August 5, 2015 by bison

[Merc14]

That is really amazing to see. Thanks, Bison, for the link!

[quasar_kid]

Thanks!

[Junior Chubb]

Great stuff, thanks for posting.

The stills really looked photo-shopped though, a dodgy moon with a bevel and shadow effect added...

(this is not a serious accusation)

Edited August 6, 2015 by Junior Chubb

[Aftermath]

Sweet, love it!

But I agree, it does look like CGI.

[BeastieRunner]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[grandfunkrailroad]

I prefer Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon

I prefer Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon

I prefer Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon

[grandfunkrailroad]

darn 3x sorry folks not intentional, darn Blackberry

[pallidin]

Beautiful, well, it it's own way.

[Anomalocaris]

Thank you pal, that was amazing

[paperdyer]

Hard to see if there are more craters on the dark side. I thought there were indications from the Soviet probe pics that showed that? I could be remembering it wrong, I was only 6.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Hard to see if there are more craters on the dark side. I thought there were indications from the Soviet probe pics that showed that?

What is missing from the far side are the dark mare which are so prominent on the near side (there is one small mare visible, the Mare Moscoviense {Sea of Moscow}).

The mare are lava plains and have a much lower number of craters than older areas. The lack of mare on the far side means that there are a greater number of craters than on the near side.

[Rolci]

There's definitely a pyramid there in that picture... Somewhere...

[MyOtherAccount]

An incredibly beautiful span of gray desolation! Such a different place than the Earth. Gives a guy the sense of how difficult it is for life to come about, even when life is just a stone's throw away in astronomical measures.

A nice way to end my day...

[Frank Merton]

I don't know if I am being too fussy or not, but the "dark side" of the moon is not dark and gets as much light as the side facing us. The moon is not illuminated by the earth but by the sun, and it rotates relative to the sun. We would be better calling the "sides" of the moon the front and back sides.

I don't think anyone here misstated the reality, but I have been reading it all over the internet and this is the only place I can express such a view.

[Merc14]

I don't know if I am being too fussy or not, but the "dark side" of the moon is not dark and gets as much light as the side facing us. The moon is not illuminated by the earth but by the sun, and it rotates relative to the sun. We would be better calling the "sides" of the moon the front and back sides.

I don't think anyone here misstated the reality, but I have been reading it all over the internet and this is the only place I can express such a view.

Actually you should say it in other places because most who frequent this section know this already but how many folks have no clue that the side of the Moon we never see from earth's surface is just as illuminated by the Sun as any other part. You'll be amazed at how many people don't know this fact.

[Sundew]

I have to wonder if the moon were not tidally locked with only one side facing us if much of the modern discoveries regarding gravity, orbits of bodies within our solar system and even the spherical shape of the Earth, might have happened centuries earlier, since it would be obvious to anyone the moon was then a sphere and not a flat disc sailing through the heavens?

[Calibeliever]

It's disappointing that they photo shopped out the alien base. Typical NASA *sigh*

[bison]

Actually, the fact that the Moon is a sphere has been known for at least 2600 years. Anyone who wanted to know this at the time, could have asked the ancient Greeks. They also worked out the size and distance of the Moon, the fact that it orbits the Earth, and that the Earth is spherical.

See link below for more on this:

http://www.moonzoo.o...re_and_History

Edited August 7, 2015 by bison

[spud the mackem]

I didn'i see any Alien cities so I presume they switched their lights off.

[Junior Chubb]

I don't know if I am being too fussy or not, but the "dark side" of the moon is not dark and gets as much light as the side facing us. The moon is not illuminated by the earth but by the sun, and it rotates relative to the sun. We would be better calling the "sides" of the moon the front and back sides.

I don't think anyone here misstated the reality, but I have been reading it all over the internet and this is the only place I can express such a view.

Express away Frank

But why change the 'common' name it is given based on the view get from Earth, I am happy to say the sun rises in the East even though it is us turning to face the sun, I am happy to go to the ends of the Earth to keep my other half happy yet the Earth has no ends this leaves me more than happy to say the light and dark sides of the moon.

Either way its a great place for the Jedi and Sith to hide out without crossing paths with each other.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Junior Chubb

[Rolci]

I don't know if I am being too fussy or not, but the "dark side" of the moon is not dark and gets as much light as the side facing us. The moon is not illuminated by the earth but by the sun, and it rotates relative to the sun. We would be better calling the "sides" of the moon the front and back sides.

I don't think anyone here misstated the reality, but I have been reading it all over the internet and this is the only place I can express such a view.

Do you actually believe what you're saying? I thought you were smarter than that, no offense.

edit: to my horror, I see others here blindly agreeing with your view and calling their belief "fact".

Guess it's time for me to switch to a science forum where people know what they're talking about. I've been observing a gradual degradation here on UM, shame really...

Edited August 7, 2015 by Rolci

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

Do you actually believe what you're saying? I thought you were smarter than that, no offense.

edit: to my horror, I see others here blindly agreeing with your view and calling their belief "fact".

Guess it's time for me to switch to a science forum where people know what they're talking about. I've been observing a gradual degradation here on UM, shame really...

Could you elaborate on why you think Frank Merton is wrong ?

I would be very interested in hearing why you think the farside of the moon gets less light than the side facing Earth ?

(except for the reflected light from the Earth)

[Frank Merton]

Express away Frank

But why change the 'common' name it is given based on the view get from Earth, I am happy to say the sun rises in the East even though it is us turning to face the sun, I am happy to go to the ends of the Earth to keep my other half happy yet the Earth has no ends this leaves me more than happy to say the light and dark sides of the moon.

Either way its a great place for the Jedi and Sith to hide out without crossing paths with each other.

Yea -- that's a standing problem -- whether to let something that isn't a planet continue to be called one, to let people continue to refer to a Big Bang that was not at first at all big and certainly made no noise in the ordinary sense, whether to continue to let people refer to än object that is neither black nor a hole be called one, etc.

As I see it "common usage" serves at best to confuse people and often give crackpots an argument for their crackpottery. It's best if science keeps its nomenclature clear and doesn't let the public (mainly the ignorant but arrogant press) decide what to call things. However, what is best is not always what happens, nor even what can happen once some misleading word gains currency.

The worst offense here is maybe the word "theory," which has one meaning is common parlance and a very different one in science. I agree that "theory" is a major improvement over the nineteenth century word they used for the same thing -- "law" (and unfortunately that word is engraned still in a lot of scientific discussion), but some other word is sorely needed.

Do you actually believe what you're saying? I thought you were smarter than that, no offense.

edit: to my horror, I see others here blindly agreeing with your view and calling their belief "fact".

Guess it's time for me to switch to a science forum where people know what they're talking about. I've been observing a gradual degradation here on UM, shame really...

Just maybe good riddance.

[Rolci]

woah, a whole crowd!

Could you elaborate on why you think Frank Merton is wrong ?

I would be very interested in hearing why you think the farside of the moon gets less light than the side facing Earth ?

(except for the reflected light from the Earth)

woah, a whole crowd!

and to top them, you have the added "benefit" of imagining things. For example that I said anything like "the farside of the moon gets less light". (Which I didn't. Why would I, if it is not so? Actually that assumption says a lot about your lack of understanding.) I must thank FM though, excellent confirmation of my previous estimations of the level of average "expertise" among commentators. So he takes the cookie today, all the more since he also shares the "added benefit" feature of imagining things. He sincerely believes that I have experience with hallucinogens (which I have none), hence his unjustified but cherished tendency to refer to me as a crackpot. (Never even smoked even an ordinary fag by the way.)

Assumers, name-callers, imaginers, fact-make-upers... the whole intellectual lot. Wasn't like this back in the days. Would be good riddance indeed. Makes for good fun tho. Watching as, instead of one thinking a misconception over, apologizing, and correcting the mistake, here we have whole alliances lining up in protection of said misconception. Weird... Bedtime for me, have fun!