File:Earth and Moon seen from 183 million kilometers by MESSENGER.png
Summary
In the lower left portion of this image, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" class="extiw" title="en:Earth">Earth</a> can be seen, as well as the much smaller <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon" class="extiw" title="en:Moon">Moon</a> to Earth's right. When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER" class="extiw" title="en:MESSENGER">MESSENGER</a> took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth. To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun" class="extiw" title="en:Sun">Sun</a> is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles).
The orientation of this image is that as seen by MESSENGER's Wide Angle Camera (WAC) when this image was captured. The direction of north is very nearly toward the bottom of the image, and Earth is located near the boundary of the constellations <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(constellation)" class="extiw" title="en:Libra (constellation)">Libra</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius" class="extiw" title="en:Scorpius">Scorpius</a>. Specifically, the right ascension and declination coordinates for Earth in this image are 15:37:04 and -20:45:42, respectively. The bright star directly to the right of the Earth-Moon pair and almost to the edge of the image is the star <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/delta_Scorpii" class="extiw" title="en:delta Scorpii">delta Scorpii</a>, a bright star near the "head" of that constellation. The pair of stars in the lower-right corner are the stars <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Scorpii" class="extiw" title="en:Omega Scorpii">omega-1 and omega-2 Scorpii</a>.
Some of the bright features in this image, such as the streaks located near the upper right, are not stars but rather are due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cosmic_ray" class="extiw" title="en:cosmic ray">cosmic ray</a> particles striking the MESSENGER camera while the image was being taken. Images used to search for vulcanoids involve 10-second exposure times, which is a relatively long time in comparison to imaging planetary surfaces, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)" class="extiw" title="en:Mercury (planet)">Mercury</a>'s. The longer exposure time makes it more likely that such a cosmic ray strike will occur.
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 14:42, 5 January 2017 | | 1,018 × 1,024 (412 KB) | 127.0.0.1 (talk) | <p>In the lower left portion of this image, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" class="extiw" title="en:Earth">Earth</a> can be seen, as well as the much smaller <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon" class="extiw" title="en:Moon">Moon</a> to Earth's right. When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER" class="extiw" title="en:MESSENGER">MESSENGER</a> took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth. To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun" class="extiw" title="en:Sun">Sun</a> is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). </p> <p>The orientation of this image is that as seen by MESSENGER's Wide Angle Camera (WAC) when this image was captured. The direction of north is very nearly toward the bottom of the image, and Earth is located near the boundary of the constellations <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(constellation)" class="extiw" title="en:Libra (constellation)">Libra</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius" class="extiw" title="en:Scorpius">Scorpius</a>. Specifically, the right ascension and declination coordinates for Earth in this image are 15:37:04 and -20:45:42, respectively. The bright star directly to the right of the Earth-Moon pair and almost to the edge of the image is the star <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/delta_Scorpii" class="extiw" title="en:delta Scorpii">delta Scorpii</a>, a bright star near the "head" of that constellation. The pair of stars in the lower-right corner are the stars <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Scorpii" class="extiw" title="en:Omega Scorpii">omega-1 and omega-2 Scorpii</a>. </p> <p>Some of the bright features in this image, such as the streaks located near the upper right, are not stars but rather are due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cosmic_ray" class="extiw" title="en:cosmic ray">cosmic ray</a> particles striking the MESSENGER camera while the image was being taken. Images used to search for vulcanoids involve 10-second exposure times, which is a relatively long time in comparison to imaging planetary surfaces, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)" class="extiw" title="en:Mercury (planet)">Mercury</a>'s. The longer exposure time makes it more likely that such a cosmic ray strike will occur. </p> |
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