Earth Departure Movie from MESSENGER spacecraft
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth taken with its wide-angle camera during a gravity assist swingby of Earth on Aug. 2, 2005. The images were sequenced into an MPEG movie showing Earth through one complete rotation from the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth.
The movie starts when MESSENGER was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America on Aug. 2. It ends when the probe was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth – farther than the Moon’s orbit - on Aug. 3.
The gravity assist allowed NASA to test several MESSENGER science instruments by observing its home planet. One of them the Mercury Dual Imaging System's wide angle camera which is used to capture these images.
Earth rotation (4.90 MB) or Earth rotation with date and time (5.78 MB).
13 Comments:
The globe is illuminated by a spotlight so large that it has got it's own name, the sun. But a second and smaller bright spot reflects off the earth, located somewhere on the left of the craft, but not as far left as the sun.
What is this? A reflection of sunlight off of the moon? Some flaw in the camera?
An OVNI...
After running this image through pixilating 100x100 focus lense spcific identifier with an imaging shapening module, I was able to confirm that this is in fact, a UFO
Man, I've been waiting for this day
there's more than one. and one towards the end is bright red. they most likely are reflections off sats. in my opinion.
The globe is illuminated by a spotlight so large that it has got it's own name, the sun. But a second and smaller bright spot reflects off the earth, located somewhere on the left of the craft, but not as far left as the sun.
What is this?
It's a specular reflection of the image of the sun. Consider a desk lamp shining on a billiard ball. You'll see the side of the ball facing the lamp more-or-less evenly illuminated. You'll also see a brighter spot (about half-way between the line between the center of the ball to the sun and the line between the center of the ball to your eye) where the light more directly reflects. Here's an example: http://www.kleinbottle.com/half_pint_klein.htm
HAY RICK111, THAT WAS MY SPACE SHIP. :(
I WAS SPREADING AIDS IN AFRICA WITH MY AIDS BEAM.
I, WALTER T SNACKS APPROVE OF THIS MESSAGE.
PLS DONATE 2 4CHAN
Thanks Anonymous. After posting my question I figured a specular reflection of the Sun might be the answer. I guess it's been too long since I have been playing with Imagine. :-)
Ever wondered why you cannot see any stars? Read Viktor Schauberger's work
Any idea what the dark splotch is at about 4 seconds into the movie is? Its not lighting as it rotates with the planet, looks like a giant cloud of smoke
Sorry, got the version with timestamps, very visible at 2005-08-03T06:15:51.788038. Also sorry for the extra "is" in the previous comment
The catholic church is responsible for the aids desaster in Africa. And yes it is on purpose to marginalise the number of blacks on this earth.
Hey Anon, that giant black cloud is nothing more than the north western coast of the continent of Australia rotating past. If you look at 2005-08-03T12:55:51-ish you see another blob rotating past corresponding to the Cape Horn, southern Africa followed pretty closely by Patagonia. According to the site,
"Comprising 358 frames taken over 24 hours, the movie follows Earth through one complete rotation. The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2"
Should've realized that this morning my eyes wern't focusing well....it really looked like a huge plume of smoke this morning to me. Now that the caffiene has had its time to take effect, I can clearly see the edges, and therefore tell it isn't an odd colored cloud, and with your time info, yeah, I can see it now...
Lesson learned? Don't post before noon....unless the caffiene has been flowing since 6:00 am :)
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