China’s Satellite Takes Rare Pictures Of Moon’s Far Side
LongJiang-2, the Chinese satellite has been successful in taking a spectacular picture of the faraway side of the Moon where our Earth is appearing like a small dot besides it. The small blue marble like presence of the Earth behind the Moon is a sight which will definitely makes us as humans feel very small and insignificant.
Astronomer Bassa who is associated with ASTRON in Netherlands has said that they are very humbled to have taken this particular photograph as it is one of the few pictures of the Moon’s back side. The picture was processed at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory located in Netherlands where Bassa works as a volunteer. This stunning picture was clicked on the 3rd of February and sent to the earth on the very next day. As the camera of the satellite does not have a proper filter, the colors got distorted in that image but the astronomers who were involved in processing the picture restored its colors and presented a pretty picture with a giant sized moon and a blue small marble ball shaped Earth.
The picture reminds of other breathtaking pictures taken by different satellites and astronauts from down the years. Some iconic pictures are one being the Earthrise which was clicked by the astronauts of Apollo 8 in the year 1968 and another one where our Earth is appearing as just a speck in the largeness of the space. This was clicked by Voyager1 satellite ion the year 1990 at a distance of around 4 billion miles.
The Chinese satellite which is a part of the country’s space mission named Chang’e 4 had successfully placed a lander and rover on the Moon’s surface on its faraway side on January 3 this year. The satellite along with a radio transmitter which is connected to the controllers of the mission located in Beijing is giving links between the landers and the controllers.