The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) successfully took moving images of the precise Earth rise moment when the Earth looked like a diamond ring using the onboard high definition camera (HDTV) of the lunar explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) on February 10, 2009 (JST).
The moment came when a penumbral lunar eclipse occurred and sunlight was covered by the Earth. During that time, since the view of the Sun from the KAGUYA was mostly covered by the Earth, the KAGUYA observed that the Earth looked like a diamond ring. This is the first time that this phenomenon was shot from the Moon.
The bright part on the lower right side is the Sun and the black area surrounded by the thin light ring is the Earth. Most of the Sun is covered by the Earth and the Moon's surface.
You can see the HD movie taken by HDTV at JAXA Video Archives .
You can see the HD quality movie at YouTube.
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- Copyright (c) 2007 JAXA/SELENE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.