Moon Transit of Earth Video

A composite video created by NASA from images sent back to Earth via the Deep Impact robotic spacecraft shows the Moon passing in front of the Earth from 31 million miles away.¹

Fast Facts

1. Images taken from Deep Impact spacecraft¹
2. Distance from Earth images captured: 31 million miles¹
3. Moon passes in front of Earth
4. Images taken as test to detect life on planets outside solar system¹
5. Continents color-coded for infrared wavelengths¹
6. Infrared more strongly reveals vegetation¹

Deep Impact Looks Back

In 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft fired an impactor at Comet Tempel 1 and studied the resulting debris. However, the spacecraft remained functional beyond its original mission, and scientists have since used it to image the Earth. Scientists hope that by studying the Earth from far away, they can discover what to look for when looking at extrasolar planets from Earth.²

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