Chinese Satellite Captures a Cool View of Earth from Lunar Orbit

It does appear all wrong

Africa is too far north

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
It does appear all wrong

Africa is too far north

Maybe the poles shifted and we didn't know it?

originally posted by: Plotus
I'm still waiting for an answer too.... Anybody ?


a reply to: musicismagic

Even though it's been said in a few posts, this question gets asked time and time again.

The answer is quite simple: Exposure time.

As someone who does Astrophotography, I'm here to tell you that in order for a camera to take an image of the stars, it will need several seconds or longer of exposure.

Objects that are bright need exposure times of only fractions of a second, which is much, much to short for stars to show up in an image.

In the OP's image, you have the Earth reflecting sunlight, quite brightly, and the Moon's surface. The exposure time of the image would have been in fractions of a second. Again, way too short for any stars to be visible.

If they had exposed the frame for that amount of time, you instead would see a very washed out, or completely white image instead, due to the very large amount of light being reflected off the Earth and Moon.

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
It does appear all wrong

Africa is too far north

The Moon does not always orbit directly over the Earth's equator.

It has a inclination of 4.99 to 5.3 degrees to the ecliptic:

Orbit Of The Moon

Satellites and probes also do not have to orbit directly over an object's equator, but can have many orbits depending upon where you want it to go. For example, the best type of orbit around a body in order to photograph it completely over time, or use sensors and radars is a Polar Orbit.

With the Moon with a inclination in it's orbit, and the satellite most likely not in a equatorial orbit, it is quite possible to get pictures of the Earth from the Moon with interesting angles.

originally posted by: Plotus
Why no stars ?

Exposure and aperture, duh. The bigger or smaller the aperture, the more or less light coming in. Exposure is the amount of time exposed to the light amount.

Took this one with my own hands, no stars. That's because to see the details of the moon, it required sacrificing the exposure needed to see stars. I.E, if I'd taken a longer exposure route, there'd be stars in the shot, but nil on the moon detail.
Edit: And the moon would be bright AF, too, which would also wash out many of the stars anyway.

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
It does appear all wrong

Africa is too far north

If it didn't look wrong that is when people should be questioning the validity of it. Have you ever looked at a true to scale map of the world? It looks weird.

Cool. CGI is fun to mess around with.

originally posted by: EmmanuelGoldstein
Cool. CGI is fun to mess around with.

Indeed it is. Which CGI best represents Earth today? Why don't these look oblate or "pear shaped" to you?

a reply to: ZombieZygote
Because the Earth's oblateness is very slight? Because in an image that size, the oblateness would consist of much less than one pixel and thus, not visible?

Isaac Newton first proposed that Earth was not perfectly round. Instead, he suggested it was an oblate spheroid—a sphere that is squashed at its poles and swollen at the equator. He was correct and, because of this bulge, the distance from Earth's center to sea level is roughly 21 kilometers (13 miles) greater at the equator than at the poles.

www.scientificamerican.com...

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ZombieZygote
Because the Earth's oblateness is very slight? Because in an image that size, the oblateness would consist of much less than one pixel and thus, not visible?

Isaac Newton first proposed that Earth was not perfectly round. Instead, he suggested it was an oblate spheroid—a sphere that is squashed at its poles and swollen at the equator. He was correct and, because of this bulge, the distance from Earth's center to sea level is roughly 21 kilometers (13 miles) greater at the equator than at the poles.

www.scientificamerican.com...

Care to explain the size of North America in the 2012 CG image, compared to the others?

I was about to say that at least china is helping prove the Earth isnt flat and that man landed on the moon.

I should have known better!

originally posted by: Forensick
I was about to say that at least china is helping prove the Earth isnt flat and that man landed on the moon.

I should have known better!

太棒了！

originally posted by: Forensick
I was about to say that at least china is helping prove the Earth isnt flat and that man landed on the moon.

I should have known better!

Flat Earth is a red herring, but it is clear that we have been lied to about the nature of our home.

a reply to: ZombieZygote

Oh my.

Now what?

originally posted by: Grimpachi

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
It does appear all wrong

Africa is too far north

If it didn't look wrong that is when people should be questioning the validity of it. Have you ever looked at a true to scale map of the world? It looks weird.

Yes Africa has as much land mass as north America, China and India combined. Most people looking at an actual image of the earth from space would not see what they believe the globe looks like. Looking at thr earth first thing you will see is Africa and realize just how big it actually is

www.citymetric.com...

originally posted by: RowanBean

originally posted by: musicismagic
Aren't there any stars?

Yes. There's one on the right... the one shining on Earth and Moon.

Why is the Earth brighter than the moon if the Sun is shining on both, and the camera is closer to the moon?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ZombieZygote

Oh my.

Now what?

Now what? You never explained the absurd size of North America in that "satellite" picture, compared to the other, much smaller pictures of North America. But..... Science...... Right?

a reply to: ZombieZygote

Yeah. Now what? We've been lied to. Now what? Rebellion?

You never explained the absurd size of North America in that "satellite" picture,

Got the originals handy? You don't believe in satellites?

a reply to: ZombieZygote


Thank-you for those images of Earth that span 2 centuries. The effects of climate change are apparent.

a reply to: carewemust

Because the Earth has clouds and stuff?

en.wikipedia.org...