Traveling with Steve

Pluto. Charon. Hydra. Nix. Styx. Kerberos.

This picture of the Earth and moon in a single frame -- the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft -- was recorded 18 September 1977, by NASA's Voyager 1 when it was 11.66 million km (7.25 million miles) from Earth. The moon is at the top of the picture and beyond the Earth as viewed by Voyager. In the picture are eastern Asia, the western Pacific Ocean and part of the Arctic. Voyager 1 was directly above Mt. Everest (on the night side of the planet at 25 degrees north latitude) when this picture was taken. The photo was made from three images taken through color filters, then processed by the Image Processing Lab at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Because the Earth is many times brighter than the moon, the moon was artificially brightened by a factor of three relative to the Earth by computer enhancement so that both bodies would show clearly in the image. Credit: NASA
This picture of the Earth and moon in a single frame — the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft — was recorded 18 September 1977, by NASA’s Voyager 1 when it was 11.66 million km (7.25 million miles) from Earth.
The moon is at the top of the picture and beyond the Earth as viewed by Voyager. In the picture are eastern Asia, the western Pacific Ocean and part of the Arctic. Voyager 1 was directly above Mt. Everest (on the night side of the planet at 25 degrees north latitude) when this picture was taken.
The photo was made from three images taken through color filters, then processed by the Image Processing Lab at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Because the Earth is many times brighter than the moon, the moon was artificially brightened by a factor of three relative to the Earth by computer enhancement so that both bodies would show clearly in the image.
Credit: NASA

New images keep coming from New Horizons.

My grandfathers were born before the first flight of the brothers Wright. Both watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon. In my 60 years, humans and our tools have traveled to 9 planets (I side with the planetary scientists; what else could you call Pluto other than a planetary system?), hundreds of moons, Ceres, and landed on a comet. Sedna awaits. Orbital telescopes already identify hundreds of exoplanets — in just two decades of wide-eyed exploration. More discoveries shelter in the dark of the Solar System, out there. Let’s go.

The universe is amazing.

Happy Moon Landing Day.