The researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are clearly enjoying having a high-definition camera now circling the moon, on their Kaguya lunar probe. Today they've published their first high-def photos of the rising and setting Earth, with the pitted lunar landscape front and center.
The images are just as surreal, and beautiful, as the original Apollo Earthrise photos from late 1968. The image above is a full-Earth rise taken near the Moon's north pole, with the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean visible at home.
More after the fold.
Above: An image of the setting Earth taken near the moon's South Pole, with Australia and Asia visible on the cloudy globe.
KAGUYA (SELENE) Image Taking of Earth-Rise by HDTV [JAXA]
(Image Credit: JAXA/NHK)
