DSCOVR photographs the moon's journey across the Earth
The DSCOVR satellite has outdone itself: after taking a photo of the Earth in July, it has now captured a series of images showing the moon making its way across the Pacific Ocean. Since the satellite is in orbit a million miles away (much farther than most satellites and the ISS) to measure solar winds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the images show the dark side of the moon, which we never see from our POV. The photo series was taken by DSCOVR's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on July 16th between 3:50PM and 8:45PM Eastern time.
EPIC took three monochromatic shots per stage in red, blue and green channels with 30-second intervals per -- those shots were then combined to produce each photo. You can watch all the pictures in succession in the video below. By the way, you're bound to see a new Earth photo taken from the satellite's vantage point every day starting next month: DSCOVR will be observing the planet from its orbit and posting pictures on a dedicated website.
[Image credit: NASA/NOAA]
