Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter grabs a shot of Earth and the MoonJanuary 9, 2017 - 12:10 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The pale blue dot we call home is back in the limelight again. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter grabbed a shot of Earth and our moon with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) from a pretty staggering distance late last year. Now, it might look a little pixelated at first, but you need to understand the circumstances before casting judgment, Engadget said. This photo was taken at a distance of 127 million miles last November 20th, according to NASA. That's roughly 1.4 times the distance between Earth and our star. What's more the photo is a composite of two pictures that were taken in an effort to calibrate the instrument. "For presentation, the exposures were processed separately to optimize detail visible on both Earth and the moon," NASA writes. Otherwise, the moon would be too dark to see in a single exposure. It's important to note that this is a common technique for photographers of any type -- basically, it's an HDR photo. The aeronautics agency says that the positioning between Earth and the moon is correct, as are the sizes, despite the compositing. What's more, the distance between Gaia and our moon is about 30 times that of Earth's diameter. No, this image isn't pin-sharp, but the shots HiRISE is grabbing of the Martian surface are. Especially when it can "resolve features as small as 3.3 feet" from its spot on the Orbiter, according to Space. Try doing that with Nikon's P900 superzoom camera, Engadget said. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine |