Watch the Moon Cross the Earth

Did you know we have a satellite orbiting a million miles from Earth? that’s beyond the orbit of the Moon. The image here was captured last month by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the DSCOVR satellite. It shows the “dark side” of the moon that is not visible from Earth, although it is lit by the sun in the images.

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.

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. 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.

The far side of the moon was not seen until 1959 when the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft returned the first images. Since then, several NASA missions have imaged the lunar far side in great detail. The same side of the moon always faces an earthbound observer because the moon is tidally locked to Earth. That means its orbital period is the same as its rotation around its axis.

Read more about the DSCOVR satellite and the images it takes at NASA. (via mental floss)