At the risk of provoking...

[BillyStubbsTears]

...Nudga into some unsavouriness, I think this may be great greatest photo ever taken by the human race.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AstroRM/status/757764101896409088

[GM-MarkB]

Kinda takes your breath away doesn't it ?

[Nudga]

Love it.

[darren61]

Wow!! sort of puts into perspective some of the s***e we talk about and think that it means that much when we see what else is going on all around us.

[BobG]

How come an Earth weather satellite is OUTSIDE the orbit of the Moon then? I'm struggling to see how that can happen tbh.

BobG

[Nudga]

What are you struggling with Bob?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bob

It's a climate observatory, not a weather satellite.

It sits at one of the Lagrangian points of the Sun-Earth system. Which means that the effects of the Earth's and the Sun's gravity cancel out and it can effectively stay at the same point, facing the sunlit side of the Earth forever, to observe big picture stuff.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Climate_Observatory

[BobG]

Although Ive never heard of Lagrangian points I do understand, perfectly well, the idea of geostationery orbit. What I still do not understand however is how something that is allegedly sitting between the Earth and the Moon can capture a picture of both items in one frame.

Bob

[NickDRFC]

Bob - the observatory is almost a million miles away. The moon is about 200-250,000 miles away. 1,000,000 > 250,000.

[Nudga]

The moon is 240,000 miles away, the observatory sits 930,000 miles away.

[wesisback]

Morte magis metuenda senectus

[RedJ]

I can make up words too Wes.

[BobG]

Ah. Thank you one and all. It that case, it's easy peasy innit?!

Cheers

BobG

[Sprotyrover]

So that is a picture of the 'Dark side of the Moon'