That’s no moon – it’s the Moon 🌗
The first colour images from ESA JUICE’s close lunar encounter last night are out.
Taken by the monitoring cameras, both show sunlit craters & shadows on the surface with parts of the spacecraft in the foreground.
At the top of the second image, you can just make out Earth as a small dark circle, surrounded by the ring of its backlit atmosphere.
We arrive (t)here tonight 🛰️🌏
Kudos to @stim3on for the magical processing 🙇♂️
For more detail & to download the images, here are the ESA releases this morning:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/08/Juice_snaps_Moon_en_route_to_Earth
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/08/Earth_ahead
If you’re having trouble spotting Earth in that second picture, here’s a handy guide I just made.
It’s small, because it’s 400,000km away still at this point, but once you see it, it’s obvious.
And we’ll be muuuuuch closer tonight 😱
Seems the dark circle (earth) is lit from the sun on the opposite side than the direction the moon is.
But really the huge distraction is that big blue gassy looking blob beneath it.
@Chancerubbage It was full Moon last night, meaning that the Sun, Earth, & then the Moon were pretty much in a straight line (although perfectly, else there would have been an eclipse).
So from the perspective of JUICE at the sunlit Moon, Earth & the Sun were both in the same direction ahead. Thus the camera saw the backlit Earth with the atmospheric ring, while the Sun was hidden behind the spacecraft.
Mark McCaughrean
Chancerubbage