Earthrise 1: Historic Image Remastered
“Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow is that pretty!” Soon after that pronouncement , 50 years ago today, one of the most famous images ever taken was snapped from the orbit of the Moon . Now known as “ Earthrise ”, the iconic image shows the Earth rising above the limb of the Moon, as taken by the crew of Apollo 8 . But the well-known Earthrise image was actually the second image taken of the Earth rising above the lunar limb -- it was just the first in color. With modern digital technology, however, the real first Earthrise image -- originally in black and white -- has now been remastered to have the combined resolution and color of the first three images . Behold! The featured image is a close-up of the picture that Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders was talking about . Thanks to modern technology and human ingenuity , now we can all see it. (Historical note: A different historic black & white image of the Earth setting behind the lunar limb was taken by the robotic Lunar Orbiter 1 two years earlier.)