‘Earthrise’ explained as stunning footage from Japanese space orbiter resurfaces
It's easy to see why the awe-inspiring footage has gone viral
Mind-blowing footage of 'Earthrise' captured by a Japanese space orbiter has resurfaced online.
The birth of space exploration has brought us to the attention some incredible marvels from millions of miles away.
From a terrifying snap of an astronaut floating in space to an asteroid against the vast darkness of the void, they're truly spectacular.
And now, footage from Japan's Kaguya moon mission has gone viral on social media.
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A video captured by the space orbiter shows the Earth appearing to rise from behind our moon - an unusual sight to behold and reminiscent of a sunrise - in what's been appropriately dubbed 'Earthrise'.
Kaguya was the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) second mission to explore the moon from orbit, launching on September 14, 2007.
On November 7, the spacecraft captured the spectacular footage of the 'Earthrise' - the first since the Apollo missions some 39 years prior.
Taking to Reddit's R/SpacePorn community, one person posted a GIF of the space phenomenon and added: "Earth rise is beautiful."
The post has since been upvoted more than nine thousand times and received hundreds of comments.
As to be expected, these ranged from awe-struck to tongue-in-cheek.
"I don't mean to brag but... I live over there," one person typed, as a second simply remarked: "Incredible."
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us," a third wrote, quoting US astronomer Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.
Meanwhile, another quipped: "Post this in the flat Earth sub."
Earthrise was first witnessed and captured by humans on December 24, 1968, when NASA astronaut Bill Anders took what became a literal world-first photo.
"Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell aboard," NASA explains of the iconic photo.
It was dubbed 'the most influential environmental photograph ever taken' by nature photographer Galen Rowell.
The sight of our planet was one that caught the Apollo 8 crew totally off-guard.
As historian Robert Poole explained, the lack of preparation made the sight of Earth feel like a revelation - not just for the astronauts in orbit, but for everyone watching from the ground.
"We came all this way to explore the Moon, Apollo 8 and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth," astronaut Bill Anders said of the photo.
Ellie Kemp