50 Years Ago on Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8 Photographed This Earth Rise
Earth photograph taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on Christmas Eve December 24, 1968, while in orbit around the Moon, showing the Earth rising for the third time before the Apollo 8 crew above the lunar horizon, approximately 780 kilometers from the spacecraft. Width of the photographed area at the lunar horizon is about 175 kilometers. The land visible on Earth cut by dark shadow is west Africa. From the Moon, the Earth appears to move up and down a little 1) when the orbital distance between the Moon and Earth changes; 2) libration, which is slight movement of Earth due to eccentricity of the Moon's orbit; 3) rotation of Earth while the Moon does not rotate and always has the same face toward Earth.
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