Earth & Moon                                                26 Jan 98

This mosaic shows images of Earth and the moon acquired by the 
multispectral imager on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Spacecraft 
(NEAR) on January 23, 1998, 19 hours after the spacecraft swung by Earth 
on its way to the asteroid 433 Eros. The images of both were taken from 
a range of 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers), approximately the same as 
the distance between the two bodies. This unique perspective, never seen 
before, shows both our planet and its moon at the relative size that 
each appears when viewed from the other. Also, both Earth and the Moon 
are viewed from above their south poles, a perspective not attainable 
from either body because the moon orbits high above Earth's equator. In 
the Earth image, the south pole is at the center and the continent of 
Antartica is surrounded by sea ice and storm fronts. 
The image mosaic is constructed from blue, green, and infrared filters. 
These colors highlight differences between rock types, water, and 
vegetation. On Earth, the red area at the upper right side is desert and 
vegetation in Australia. Snow, ice, and clouds appear as subtly 
different shades of white and light blue. The moon's blandness, compared 
to Earth, arises from its lack of an atmosphere, oceans, and vegetation. 
For viewing purposes, the moon is shown five times brighter than in 
reality, and ten times closer to Earth than it actually is.

Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics 
Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the first spacecraft launched in 
NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions.