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The Earth as Seen from the Moon

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In 1608 Johannes Kepler wrote Somnium (The Dream), presenting a description of the Earth as seen from the Moon. This Demonstration illustrates some features of his view, from a point at about 45° latitude on the central meridian of the near side of the Moon, in the circular orbit approximation. The "view from space" option also allows an overview of the Sun-Earth-Moon system from the selenocentric (Moon-centered) point of view.

Contributed by: Paolo Maraner (July 2015)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Snapshots

Details

Snapshot 1: first quarter Earth at sunrise in Taurus

Snapshot 2: terrestrial eclipse in Pisces: a huge blue eye staring at you

Snapshot 3: solar eclipse in Libra

Snapshot 4: selenocentric view from space

Snapshot 5: solar eclipse in Taurus from space with orbital elements

Snapshot 6: terrestrial eclipse from space with orbital elements

References

[1] J. Kepler, Kepler's Somnium: The Dream, or Posthumous Work on Lunar Astronomy (E. Rosen, trans.), Mineola, NY: Dover, 2003.

[2] NASA. "Lunar Landform." (Jul 27, 2015) www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/moon_and_earth_lroearthrise_frame_0.jpg.

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