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Credit & Copyright: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute &
NASA/JHU Applied Physics Lab/Carnegie Inst. Washington
Explanation:
In a cross-Solar System interplanetary first,
our Earth was photographed during the same day from both Mercury and Saturn.
Pictured on the left, Earth is the
pale blue dot
just below the rings of Saturn, as captured by the
robotic Cassini spacecraft
now the gas giant.
Pictured on the right, the
Earth-Moon system is seen against a dark background,
as captured by the
robotic MESSENGER spacecraft
now orbiting Mercury.
In the
MESSENGER image, the Earth (left) and Moon (right)
shine brightly with reflected sunlight.
MESSENGER took the overexposed image last Friday as part of a search for small natural
satellites of the innermost planet, moons that would be expected to be quite dim.
During this same day,
humans across
planet Earth snapped many of their own
pictures of Saturn.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Earth - Messenger
Publications with words: Earth - Messenger
See also: