Earth-rise image shot taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA. This still image was cut out from a moving image (wide shot) taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA at 2:52 PM on 7 November 2007 (JST) then sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Centre. In the image, the Moon's surface is near the North Pole, and the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean can be observed on the Earth. (c) JAXA, NHK

Earth-set image shot by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA. This still image was cut out from a moving image (tele shot) taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA at 12:07 PM on 7 November 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST) then sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Centre. In the image, the Moon's surface is near the South Pole, and we can see the Australian Continent (centre left) and the Asian Continent (lower right) on the Earth. In this image, the upper side of the Earth is the Southern Hemisphere, thus the Australian Continent looks upside-down. (c) JAXA, NHK

The images here are the Earth setting to the horizon near the Moon's South Pole. It took about 70 seconds from the left image to the right image (complete setting). (c) JAXA, NHK

HDTV image taking of Earth-rise

Science Centric | 13 November 2007 10:46 GMT —

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world's first high-definition image taking of an Earth-rise by the lunar explorer 'KAGUYA' (SELENE) which was injected into a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km on 18 October 2007 (JST).

The Apollo project was the first mission to take images of Earth rising over the Moon. The KAGUYA successfully shot high-definition images of the Earth-rise showing an impressive image of the blue Earth which was the only floating object in pitch-dark space. These are the world's first high-definition Earth images taken from about 380,000 km away from the Earth in space.

The image taking was performed by the KAGUYA's onboard high definition television (HDTV) for space use developed by NHK. The moving image data acquired by the KAGUYA was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Centre, and processed by NHK. The satellite was confirmed to be in good health through telemetry data received at the Usuda station.

Source: JAXA