Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2000 January 5 Earth, Moon, Hubble Credit: STS-103 Crew, NASA

Explanation: The Space Shuttle Discovery Crew was fortunate enough to witness one of the brighter full moon's from orbit two weeks ago during their mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. Pictured on the left, the horizon of the Earth is visible below this full Moon, which is below the edge of the Hubble Space Telescope. The full Moon on this day, last December 22, was a few percent brighter than average because it was full at nearly the same time it was at its closest to the Earth, which comes at a time when the Earth is relatively close to the Sun. The Shuttle Crew successfully showered Hubble with needed holiday gifts, including six new gyroscopes, a new computer, and new batteries.