Pictures of the Moon
Written by Fraser Cain
The Moon is one of the most familiar and beautiful objects in the night sky (and daytime too!). Let's take a look at some beautiful images of the Moon. Of course, since Universe Today is a space and astronomy website, all of these pictures of the Moon were taken by spacecraft, or people on board spacecraft.
Earthrise. Image credit: NASA
Here's one of the most important pics of the Moon ever captured. That's because you can see the whole of the Earth as well. This picture of the Moon is called Earthrise, and it was taken by NASA's astronauts on board Apollo 8 just after it completed its lunar insertion orbit.
The Moon at its nearest and furthest points of its orbit. Image credit: NASA
The Moon follows an elliptical orbit as it travels around the Earth. At some points in its orbit, the Moon is closer to the Earth than others. This picture of the Moon from NASA's Galileo spacecraft shows the difference in sizes that the Moon can get.
The Earth and Moon, seen from the shuttle Discovery. Image credit: NASA
This is a picture of the Moon, but it's also a picture of the Earth, seen from space as well as the space shuttle Discovery. This image of the Moon was captured during a mission in 1998.
Here's a side of the Moon that very few people have ever seen with their own eyes. This photo of the Moon shows its far side. The image was taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft as it was speeding out on its journey to Jupiter.
And finally, this isn't a photograph, but it's an artist's illustration of what might have happened during the formation of the Moon. In this image of the Moon, a Mars-sized object is crashing into the Earth. After this, the spray of debris from the collision orbited the Earth and eventually collected together to form the Moon.
Filed under: Astronomy
