File:Earth and Moon seen from 183 million kilometers by MESSENGER (cropped).png

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Earth_and_Moon_seen_from_183_million_kilometers_by_MESSENGER_(cropped).png(800 × 600 pixels, file size: 263 KB, MIME type: image/png)

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In this image, the Earth can be seen, as well as the much smaller Moon to Earth's right. When MESSENGER took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth. To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles).

The orientation of this image is that as seen by MESSENGER's Wide Angle Camera (WAC) when this image was captured. The direction of north is very nearly toward the bottom of the image, and Earth is located near the boundary of the constellations Libra and Scorpius. Specifically, the right ascension and declination coordinates for Earth in this image are 15:37:04 and -20:45:42, respectively.

Some of the bright features in this image are not stars but rather are due to cosmic ray particles striking the MESSENGER camera while the image was being taken. Images used to search for vulcanoids involve 10-second exposure times, which is a relatively long time in comparison to imaging planetary surfaces, like Mercury's. The longer exposure time makes it more likely that such a cosmic ray strike will occur.
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Source File:Earth and Moon seen from 183 million kilometers by MESSENGER.png
Author NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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6 May 2010

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current13:28, 10 September 2010Thumbnail for version as of 13:28, 10 September 2010800 × 600 (263 KB)Tryphon{{Information |Description=In the lower left portion of this image, the Earth can be seen, as well as the much smaller Moon to Earth's right. When MESSENGER took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers

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