Article Posted on : - Feb 19, 2009

This is the first time that this phenomenon was shot from the Moon. Image: (C) JAXA/NHK)

TOKYO (BNS): The Japanese lunar explorer ‘KAGUYA’ has successfully captured the image of the moment when the Earth looked like a diamond ring by its on board high definition camera.

“The moment came when a penumbral lunar eclipse occurred and the view of the Sun from the KAGUYA was mostly covered by the Earth, thus the earth looked like a diamond ring,” according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The agency said that it was the first time that this phenomenon was shot from the Moon.
JAXA said that a penumbral lunar eclipse is a phenomenon in which the Sun, Earth and Moon line up in tandem, hence the moon is in the Earth's penumbra, or, when you look from the Moon, the Sun is partially covered by the Earth (partial eclipse.)

“When the phenomenon occurs, the volume of light from the Sun to the Moon decreases, thus the Moon surface looks darker when you look at it from the Earth,” JAXA said.