Earth and Moon from Mars

2003/05/27 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Irudiak/Soinuak
• Astronomia

The two balls seen in the image on the left are the Earth and the Moon from 139 million kilometers. It is the first picture of the Earth taken from another planet.

The MOC camera of the Mars Global Surveyorque spacecraft revolving around Mars was commissioned to take on May 8. In this picture only the Earth and the Moon are seen, because we have expanded part, but in the whole image we see Jupiter and its four satellites. NASA takes advantage of the alignment of Earth and Jupiter to get this special photo.

But how have they made the photo? To begin with, the photo is not unique, but a mosaic of two photographs. And it is that Jupiter is five times farther than the Earth and in a single exhibition could not be caught. Subsequently, in order to differentiate between planets and satellites, the mosaic has been widely contrasted and coloured. The high-definition MOC camera, which only photographs in black and white, has selected the colors based on photographs taken by Mariner 10 and Cassini.