A Spectacular Earthrise

An earthrise photographed by the Apollo 16 astronauts.

Photo courtesy of NASA.
Virtually everyone has seen a sunrise on occasion, but few among us have ever witnessed an earthrise - a view of the earth rising over the moon's horizon. That experience is unique to one small, elite group of Americans - the Apollo astronauts who were lucky enough (and brave enough) to strap themselves to a rocket and visit the moon.

Earthrise can be seen over and over again in a relatively short period of time. All one has to do is orbit the moon and the earth will rise once with every revolution! This stunning earthrise scene was photographed by the Apollo 16 astronauts during their second revolution of the moon on April 19, 1972.

There are a couple of very interesting things about this picture. First of all, if you look carefully at the earth you'll notice that the horizon is jagged, not smooth. This is because the planet is so large and so close to the moon that we can actually discern the contours of the terrain.

The second interesting thing you'll notice is that the lunar surface gets darker towards the horizon. This is because the command module was just getting ready to pass over the dark side of the moon (which we never get to see from earth).

So there you have it - earthrise - an event that most humans will never have an opportunity to experience without the aid of a camera.

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