Blue Ghost lander captures lunar eclipse while on the Moon

(CLO) Some areas on Earth witnessed a total lunar eclipse early Friday morning, but from the perspective of the Blue Ghost spacecraft on the Moon, the event appeared as a total solar eclipse: Earth completely blocked the light from the Sun, creating a glowing ring of fire in space.

The Blue Ghost lander, owned by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, has been on the moon since March 2. At around 4:30 a.m. EST on March 14, the lander captured a rare moment when the Earth, Sun, and Moon aligned. The images show the “diamond ring” effect, when sunlight flashes before and after Earth completely blocks the light source.

Firefly Aerospace shared a composite of multiple snapshots taken by the spacecraft during the eclipse. As sunlight refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, shadows fell on the moon, turning the spacecraft a deep red. This is the first time a private company has captured this scene from the lunar surface.

Shortly after a total lunar eclipse occurred on Earth, the Blue Ghost lander captured an image of the lunar eclipse with a "diamond ring" effect. Photo: Firefly Aerospace

“This is the first time a commercial company has recorded a solar eclipse from the Moon, and we are very proud of the high-quality images the spacecraft has sent back,” said Will Coogan, Blue Ghost’s chief engineer.

The images were transmitted back after the spacecraft’s X-band antenna, which had been frozen in the darkness of the eclipse, warmed up again. Firefly Aerospace stressed that operating during the nearly five hours of eclipse darkness was as challenging as a night on the Moon, when temperatures can drop below -100°C and the spacecraft relies entirely on batteries.

The only other time another spacecraft recorded an eclipse from the Moon was in 1967, when NASA's Surveyor 3 took a series of images in preparation for the Apollo missions.

Since leaving Earth on January 15, Blue Ghost has been sending back spectacular images of the Moon and Earth. Next, on Sunday, the spacecraft will capture a lunar sunset, a mysterious phenomenon that only the Apollo 15 and 17 astronauts have ever seen with the naked eye. Firefly plans to capture the phenomenon in high-quality 4K video.

In addition to its observation mission, Blue Ghost is also carrying 10 NASA science and technology instruments as part of the CLPS program, part of the Artemis mission to return humans to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. These instruments are collecting data about the lunar surface, including dust and regolith – the layer of broken rocks that covers the surface.

Shortly after sunset, the train would continue to operate for several hours before extreme temperature conditions caused it to shut down.

Ngoc Anh (according to Firefly Aerospace, Space, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tau-do-bo-blue-ghost-chup-duoc-nhat-thuc-tu-mat-trang-trai-nguoc-voi-nguyet-thuc-tu-trai-dat-post338634.html