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earthmo2.txt
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1992-12-31
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.
TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION GALILEO
December 22, 1992 P-41508
TOP GLL/EM23
Eight days after its encounter with the Earth, the Galileo
spacecraft was able to look back and capture this view of the
Moon in orbit about the Earth, taken from a distance of about 6.2
million kilometers (3.9 million miles), on December 16. The
picture was constructed from images take through the violet, red,
and 1.0-micron infrared filters. The Moon is in the foreground,
moving from left to right. The brightly-colored Earth contrasts
strongly with the Moon, which reflects only about one-third as
much sunlight as Earth. Contrast and color have been computer-
enhanced for both objects to improve visibility. Antarctica is
visible through clouds (bottom). The Moon's far side is seen;
the shadowy indentation in the dawn terminator is the south-
Pole/Aitken Basin, one of the largest and oldest lunar impact
features, extensively studied from Galileo during the first Earth
flyby in December 1990. The Galileo project, whose primary
mission is the exploration of the Jupiter system in 1995-97, is
managed for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications by
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
#####