The Artemis II Eclipse

https://i.redd.it/youmer479stg1.jpeg

38 Comments

  1. throwawaykikone on

    Extraordinary beauty, my god!

    I know the sub is in lockdown and probably overrun with activity so thank you for still regularly posting these historic images OP🙏

  2. >Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. The corona forms a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk, revealing details of the Sun’s outer atmosphere typically hidden by its brightness. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the Moon, but with the Moon in darkness stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during humanity’s return to deep space. The faint glow of the nearside of the Moon is visible in this image, having been illuminated by light reflected off the Earth.

    I think you can see Mars, Neptune and Saturn in the bottom right too. Jaw dropping photo

  3. skandalouslsu on

    I have 10,000 words I could say about this picture, but I’ll keep it simple: Amazing.

  4. somerand0mguy1 on

    If you zoom in on the dot in the lower right you can see Saturn’s rings! Absolutely stunning, it makes me emotional.

  5. I wonder the awe those astronauts up there must be feeling to witness this serenity? 

  6. MartianGeneral on

    To think this was the view for 4 extremely lucky (and brave) humans is just crazy. It doesn’t even look real. Not in a “hurdur space is fake” kind of way but rather you rarely get to see and capture something so perfect in every way.

  7. In the top left, correct me if I am wrong, but are the whisps coming from the other stars the solar coronae of those stars? Particularly the largest/brightest one in the top left? If so, that is so cool

  8. NoItsOverThere on

    That is simply an awesome photo. It really does remind us that we CAN do GOOD things too.

  9. hard to believe this is real. I mean I know it’s real, and beautiful and amazing. But if I was a flat earther I would not believe this shit for a second lol.

  10. Holy fuck. There HAS to be some sort of deeply profound emotions that are completely unique to the astronauts experiencing these sights. If there was a german on board, there would be a specific word for it.

  11. How did they take this photo?

    Flickr EXIF data says this is 2seconds 35 mm 1600ISO. You can’t hand hold a 2 second exposure and get even remotely close to this clear of a shot. Did NASA send up another one of those gyroscope trackers the likes of which astro_pettit has been wowing /r/space and /r/astrophotography with for a few years now?

    You can see the source image [here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/55193054741/in/dateposted/)

  12. Imagine they went to the dark side of the moon and saw a whole colony there …

  13. damihatesithere on

    There’s something about space exploration that makes me so emotional. Humanity has come so far, but it truly is just the beginning. If only we could all just shift our focus to science. 🥹

  14. Suitable-Orange5750 on

    Just by solar eclipse from earth….humans have made so many stories in myths and in other stuff…wait till they see this…there is nothing heavenly or divine about this process but yet it’s so beautiful as it is…it’s just natural.

  15. The way the crew described their inability to express this particular experience in words or photos gives me pause. I will only ever be able to imagine the experience, but I do hope an artist gets to witness this in the near future to help us better understand what it’s like.

    That said, it’s hard to sit with the deep, bitter irony of waiting with so excitement for this day — over a quarter century of wonder and hope watching us build our presence in space with this goal in mind! — and having it all be tempered by the genuine evil in the heart of this country and our leaders. This crew has had to watch our president and his lackeys slander them at every turn, to question the ability of Black Americans and women to do these difficult jobs that they have executed with such precision and grace. They’ve had to listen as he makes an enemy out of our Canadian siblings with empty threats and disgusting rhetoric.

    Today, we all have to bear the contradiction of seeing these amazing images and hearing the crew’s profound awe at what they’ve witnessed as this administration threatens genocide against an entire people and demands more money for more blood and tries to decimate the funds available to incredible scientific endeavors like this. And all the while, a billionaire lackey sits atop NASA, champing at the bit to rip up its scientific excellence in the name of vanity projects to nowhere and more money for the nazi fellow billionaire who has captured so much of our vision of space.

    I’m grateful to this crew and the thousands of dedicated civil servants across the planet who have made this possible. They’re truly some of the best among us. But it is incumbent on all of us to make change — to orient our society away from these truly despicable leaders and toward great collective endeavors like this — if today’s highs are going to be anything more than the last hurrah of a civilization that couldn’t get its shit together.

  16. alternian_nerd on

    this might be a dumb question, but those stars that have the light ejecting from the side, are those other Galaxies or are those other stars? (zoom in on the top left)

  17. Even at this relatively short distance (by cosmic standards, this is only the equivalent of Earth’s welcome mat), the scale and distance is hard to comprehend.

  18. JamesHutchisonReal on

    Anyone want to enlighten me on that asymmetric (dipolar) glow? Is the glow just photons being steered by the electromagnetic field of the sun?

  19. Beast_by_Dre on

    Astonishing photo, this must be so exhilarating to witness in person… my wallpaper collection has been growing with every picture I see from the Artemis II mission.

  20. MorpheusRagnar on

    What an amazing photo! Thanks to the crew, and wishing a safe return to earth.

  21. skintoleather on

    Unbelievably beautiful. Im so grateful we get to be the first of humanity to witness such an amazing view. We’re all extremely blessed to live in such a gorgeous universe

  22. Side question – Is there a picture in the other direction? I remember Lovell saying that the view of the stars behind the moon was incredible