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Reminder: the Earth never rises or sets on the Moon. This is an Earth-reveal as seen from near-Moon orbit. (Ditto the Apollo “Earthrise” photo that I and others have venerated.)

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Massimo

@Rainmaker1973

Jul 5, 2022

On April 5, 2008, the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya captured this full Earth-rise over the Moon limb in high resolution [source: buff.ly/3aHI99o]

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5:57 PM · Jul 5, 2022

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If you’re standing still, that is. Some of the coolest sunrises/sunsets I’ve seen have been in motion!

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We can still call it “rising” and “setting” even if it’s a different phenomena (orbit vs. rotation) that causes the same result.

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The same concept of “rise/set” for ISS is prefixed with the word “orbital”, e.g. “orbital sunset”. So this is an “orbital earthrise”. (Can I resist the temptation to talk about lunar libration and consequent Earth horizon-crossings? Not really.)

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Ahhhh, right, because the Moon is tidal locked with the Earth — one side always faces us. The Earth changes phases from the Moon's point of view, but not position.

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Call it synchronicity, my Earthrise stickers arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon.