The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DISCOVR) was launched back in February of this year. Although its goal is to measure solar wind particles from the Sun as a space weather predictor, DISCOVR passes the orbit plane of the Earth and the Moon twice per year. In its first pass, it snapped an amazing series of frames of the Moon passing in front of the Earth. The images show the dark side of the Moon, as well as the stark contrast between the darker lunar surface and the bright Earth.
The camera that took the shots, the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), is tasked with continually monitoring the planet to observe climate, ozone, vegetation, cloud height, and aerosols in the atmosphere.
From so far away and such a high resolution image, it almost doesn’t look real. But what an incredible perspective on the Earth and Moon.