40 | 100 The first image of the earth
First image of the earth - Bill Andersfrom the series 100 photos - 100 stories
A true milestone in history: the first picture of the earth. Find out when and by whom it was taken in this article!
8 Homeward and Anders' Earthrise
This fabulous image was taken by Apollo 8 crew member Bill Anders on December 24, 1968 at 075:49:07 (16:40 UTC) while he was in orbit around the moon. It shows the Earth rising above the lunar horizon for the third time. The lunar horizon is about 780 kilometers away from the spacecraft. The width of the photographed area on the lunar horizon is about 175 kilometers. The directly visible land mass is West Africa. Please note that this phenomenon is only visible to an observer moving relative to the lunar surface. Due to the synchronous rotation of the Moon relative to the Earth (i.e. the same side of the Moon is always facing the Earth), the Earth appears to be stationary in the "sky" of the Moon. To observe the effect of the Earth rising or setting above the Moon's horizon, an observer must travel toward or away from the point on the Moon's surface where the Earth is most directly overhead (in the center of the sky). Otherwise, the apparent motion/visible change of the Earth is limited to this point:
1. Increase/decrease as the orbital distance between the two bodies changes. 2. Slight apparent movement of the Earth due to the eccentricity (deviation from the center) of the Moon's orbit. 3. Rotation of the Earth (the Moon's rotation is synchronous with the Earth, the Earth's rotation is not synchronous with the Moon). 4. Changes in the Earth's atmosphere and surface, for example weather patterns, change of seasons, etc. The two craters that can be seen in the picture were named "8 Homeward and Anders' Earthrise" by the IAU in 2018 in honor of Apollo 8.
