Last month the world was treated to spectacular images of the side of the moon not visible from Earth, the lunar far side, taken from NASA’s Artemis II Integrity module and its four astronauts.
The mission was a test of systems and humans in space ahead of a planned landing in 2027. It was the furthest humans had ever been in space in a wide looping flyby behind the moon. Unique observational astronomy was carried out as the four crew members studied the moon’s farside in ways only human eyes could. They followed a detailed schedule giving immediate feedback to mission scientists. They interacted and hypothesised like scientists in the field. They witnessed Earth and Moon in a view reminiscent of Apollo 8’s iconic photo of 1968, and, in a human first, they experienced a 54-minute total solar eclipse as the moon covered the distant Sun.
Mission results, reports and scientific analysis will follow in due course, but here are two extraordinary photos of particular astronomical interest.
Moon and distant Earth
On April 6th from the far side of the moon a distant crescent Earth hangs in the darkness of space with Australia and the western Pacific in daylight. Near to the centre of the illuminated lunar surface can be seen the concentric rings of Hertzsprung Basin.
Lunar Solar Eclipse
On 6th April a solar eclipse was seen from the lunar far side. The first in human history. Stars are visible. Three planets line up at lower right (from left to right: Saturn, Mars and Mercury. Venus was also spotted in another image). Earthshine gently illuminates the left limb of the moon. The light around the moon would appear to be the Sun’s corona, and possible zodiacal light from dust particles in the plane of the solar system seems to extend left and right.
Enjoy more images at: Artemis II Lunar Flyby
