Earth and Moon Photographed all the way From Mars

NASA's Mars probe has been orbiting the Red Planet for more than a decade. Now, scientists have revealed a stunning image of Earth and the moon. This series of images were photographed all the way from Mars.

This new composite image was revealed last Friday. Two images were combined to create this new view of our planet and the moon courtesy of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its camera, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera.

NASA's MRO HiRISE camera captured this image with its high-resolution capabilities, and they were processed so that both Earth and the moon are visible. The moon often appears darker than Earth, and this means that it will be almost invisible when captured in one image with our planet. In this new image, both are revealed with the same exposures and the same level of brightness.

 Apart from this, this new image also maintained the correct positioning of Earth in relation to its natural satellite. The moon also appears much closer to Earth compared to real-life since this observation was timed when the two planetary bodies were almost in the same alignment, from the view of Mars.

This image also shows that Australia can be seen from 127 million miles, which is how far Mars is from the planet. It also shows some parts of Southeast Asia and a bright part of the Antarctic along with swirling patches of clouds.

The technology of the HiRISE camera consists of three wavelengths in infrared, red and blue-green to reveal landmasses, which makes vegetation appear reddish.

In 2007, HiRISE captured an image of the Earth and the moon from Mars revealing South America's western coast, heavily covered in clouds.

Along with a suite of five onboard scientific instruments, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been observing the Red Planet since 2006.