The Best Artemis II Images

Artemis II brought humanity farther than it's ever traveled before. Along the way they collected a vast array of stunning imagery of not only the Moon, but Earth and space as well. Join me as we explore my favorite of the best images from the Artemis II mission and break down any interesting science behind the photos.

The Moon From a Whole New Perspective

You wouldn't be wrong if something seemed off to you about this photo of the Moon. Usually, when you see the Moon, you're seeing just one side of it. The Moon is tidally locked. This means that it rotates on its axis at the same rate it orbits around the Earth, meaning that the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth.

The so-called dark side of the Moon is the side of the Moon opposite of what we see from Earth. It's not actually any darker on the dark side, it's just a poetic way of saying we don't see it. When the Moon is full, the entire light side is lit up, but when its a new moon, the entire dark side is lit instead.

In the bottom left of the image, you can see some of the more familiar features of the Moon, but the large crater at the center of the image, as well as everything above and to the right of it, are all on the dark side of the Moon, rarely seen by humans.

The large crater at the center is the Mare Orientale, a combination of an impact crater and an ancient lava field. The dark patches on the Moon, named mare (Greek for sea), are areas where lava forced its way out through the Moon's crust before its core solidified. Encircling it is an impact crater left from an ancient meteor strike. It is over 600 miles wide. Technically, Mare Orientale is visible from Earth, as it is on the very edge of the dark side of the Moon, so its ridges are slightly visible as elevated portions of surface on the very edge of the Moon.

Out of this World

This photo of Earth was taken by Commander Reid Wiseman as Artemis II left Earth behind. This marks the first time that humans have seen the entirety of Earth at once since astronauts of Apollo 17 returned over 50 years ago. From the International Space Station, Earth is two close to capture in one frame, and no human has traveled further than ISS since Apollo 17, until now.

If you look closely, you can even see the greenish glow of the Northern and Southern Lights at the top right and bottom left of the Earth. As these light exist at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere, they help to show just how thin Earth's atmosphere really is, and how little separates us from space. In fact you can see the thing blanket of the atmosphere around the entire planet, just look for a faint line just above the surface.

Also visible is the zodiacal light, the triangular glow coming off the bottom right of Earth. The zodiacal light is the faint glow caused by light from the Sun scattering off of interplanetary dust. It can be seen on earth just before sunrise or just after sunset, but can be drowned out by light pollution.

Finally, Venus is also captured in this shot, as the bright star-like light below and to the right of Earth.

A Trail to the Stars

This image shows the exhaust trail left behind by Artemis II as it left the Earth's atmosphere. The image was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. By the time this photo was taken, the exhaust plume had already begun to disperse. You can see how the trail becomes thinner the further from Earth it is, despite being the more recently created portion. That's because the higher the altitude, the thinner the air. In a near-vacuum environment, the exhaust is free to expand without having to contend with air pressure pushing inwards on it. The exhaust also seems to form a zig-zag pattern due to the air moving in different directions at different layers of the atmosphere.

An Unobstructed View of the Stars

The Moon and Earth weren't the only things being photographed during the Artemis II mission. This shot of the Milky Way was taken on the way back from the Moon.

The Milky Way is the galaxy we live in. Earth exists closer to its edge, so when we look towards the center, we see a band of hazy light, composed of all the light of the stars across the entire 100,000 light-year diameter of the disk of the galaxy. From Earth you can see it during the summer, but mostly in areas with little to no light pollution.

But in space, not only is there no light pollution, but there's also not any pesky atmosphere to distort the light, allowing for an amazingly crisp view of the details of our galaxy, unlike those seen from Earth.

A Solar Eclipse of a Different Kind

As Artemis II passed behind the Moon, it reached a point where the Sun was entirely blocked by the Moon. While not the same as those seen on Earth, this is technically a solar eclipse, as the Moon is blocking the view of the Sun. You would expect to not be able to see any detail on the Moon's surface during such an eclipse, as all the light from the Sun is on the opposite side. However, some light reflects off of the Earth and illuminates the Moon from a different angle. This is called Earthshine, and it's the reason we can see the top left side of the Moon in this image.

Also in this image is the Orion spacecraft carrying the Artemis II crew, as well as Saturn and Mars. Saturn is the bright star-like light just below and to the right of the Moon, while Mars the light at bottom right edge of the image.

The Crescent Earth

The Moon isn't the only celestial object to have phases. Here we see a crescent Earth, which really just means that most of the side of Earth we're looking at is in night time, while a sliver of it is still experiencing daylight. As the Earth is a sphere, the dividing line between day and night isn't a straight line, but a curved one.

So, when you see half the Moon in the sky, you're actually seeing half the visible lunar surface receiving light from the Sun, while the other half is pointed away and gets no light. It's basically day and night, but on the Moon. This does mean that to someone on the Moon, a day, as defined by the length of time from sunrise to sunset, would last 29.5 days, the length of the entire lunar cycle from one full moon to the next.

Earthset

I've saved the best for last. This image shows the Earthset witnessed by the Artemis II crew as the Earth slowly disappeared behind the Moon.

On the surface of the Moon, there's actually no such thing as an Earthrise or Earthset. Given that the Moon is tidally locked and always faces the Earth, that means that in a given spot on the Moon, the Earth will always be in roughly the same position in the sky. It does not rise or set.

But when orbiting the Moon, that's a different story. This image was taken as Artemis II slipped behind the Moon, hiding the Earth from their perspective.

An image like this is truly special thanks to its ability to drive in the fact that the Artemis II astronauts have traveled to a whole different world. They may not have landed on the Moon, but here they are, looking from the Moon towards Earth. This is a perspective that only a select few people have ever had the privilege of witnessing first-hand.

For lots more images from the Artemis II mission, check out NASA's galleries.