In 1968, astronaut Bill Anders took an iconic photo of Earth from the Moon, known as Earthrise. The picture showed a vibrant blue-and-white sphere emerging over the barren surface of the Moon. This image helped spark a nascent environmental movement and changed humanity’s perception of our home planet.
Now, more than half a century later, a new image taken from the Moon offers a fresh perspective on the theme. A photograph showing a small gray Earth drifting in the cosmic expanse beyond the flat, lifeless surface of the Moon was captured by the Blue Ghost lander on March 2, 2025. The image shows a faint, almost spectral view of Earth, with its gas-rich atmosphere scattering light to make the planet appear opaque and monochromatic.
The photo was taken using a high-definition commercial off-the-shelf digital camera with a wide fisheye lens, which made Earth appear small compared to other images taken during the Blue Ghost mission. In contrast, Bill Anders used a 250-millimeter telephoto lens when he took the original Earthrise photograph, making Earth look relatively large.
Scientists are using the new image and other photographs from the Blue Ghost mission to study how Earth’s atmosphere responds to space weather and other cosmic forces. The lander is equipped with an X-band antenna and LEXI, a NASA telescope designed to study Earth from the Moon. For six days during the mission, LEXI will collect images of X-rays emanating from the edges of Earth’s sprawling magnetosphere.
The Blue Ghost lander was designed to operate for about one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days. The mission is part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, a partnership between NASA and several American companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface.
Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154032/a-small-blue-gray-marble