IF YOU think this shot of the Moon doing its usual cycle around Earth looks like something out of sci-fi movie, think again.
The sequence was shot by Nasa and is very much real.
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The remarkable moment was caught back in 2015 by a satellite peering over from a million miles away.
It’s not often we get to see the Moon orbiting Earth from this angle with the dark side on show.
The dark side is never actually visible from Earth and we know little about it.
Few missions have been successfully launched on the far side too, in fact China was the first to achieve a soft landing on it in January 2019.
This particular stunning shot was taken by the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite.
Its main purpose is to monitor solar wind but on rare occasions it takes a snap for us to see.
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The technology allows forecasters to keep track of space weather alerts, which have the potential to disrupt power grids, communications, planes and GPS systems if left unchecked.
The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera – aptly nicknamed EPIC – only gets two chances a year to capture this particular sequence.
And it doesn’t just snap the Moon’s movements.
It’s also witnessed eclipses, wildfire smoke, and even other planets.
This month, the satellite will celebrate its seventh anniversary since launching into space.
It blasted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida on February 11, 2015.
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In other news, Apple has revealed a bunch of new emoji for iPhone, including a pregnant man and two saucy symbols.
Experts have warned that future space launches could be jeopardised if “stupid” regimes like Russia don’t stop blasting the skies creating debris.
And the most popular phone since the millennium has been unveiled, with many shocked to find out it’s not an iPhone.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
