Odyssey's THEMIS took this portrait of the Earth and its companion Moon, using the infrared camera, one of two cameras in the instrument. It was taken at distance of 3,563,735 kilometers (more than 2 million miles). From this distance and perspective the camera was able to acquire an image that directly shows the true distance from the Earth to the Moon. The Earth's diameter is about 12,750 km, and the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 385,000 km, corresponding to 30 Earth diameters. The dark region seen on Earth in the infrared temperature image is the cold south pole. The small bright region above it is warm Australia. Photo: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University
NASA
2001-04-24
nasa.gov