Since NASA first ventured out into space, astronomers and spacecraft alike have been snapping photos of Earth from all sorts of angles.
Just take a look at International Space Station Commander Scott Kelly's Twitter feed. Better yet, take a look into NASA's archives.
The latest is a new "Earthrise" shot from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), mimicking the first Earthrise photo from the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft in 1966, NASA noted in a news release. The next Earthrise photo, the one most often referenced, came two years later courtesy of the Apollo 8 mission.
"From the Earth, the daily moonrise and moonset are always inspiring moments," Mark Robinson, principal investigator for LROC at Arizona State University, said in the release. "However, lunar astronauts will see something very different: viewed from the lunar surface, the Earth never rises or sets. Since the moon is tidally locked, Earth is always in the same spot above the horizon, varying only a small amount with the slight wobble of the moon. The Earth may not move across the 'sky', but the view is not static. Future astronauts will see the continents rotate in and out of view and the ever-changing pattern of clouds will always catch one's eye, at least on the nearside. The Earth is never visible from the farside; imagine a sky with no Earth or moon - what will farside explorers think with no Earth overhead?"
