Emily Lakdawalla • May 22, 2010
Three of Akatsuki's six science instruments have now checked in as operating normally, producing lovely photos of the receding homeworld. They were taken at around 20:50 on May 21 (I think that is Japan time, so it would be 11:50 UT if that were true). At the time, Akatsuki was about 250,000 kilometers from Earth, which subtended about 3 degrees of its field of view.
More importantly, Akatsuki is receding from Earth's night side, so the view is of a thinly lit crescent -- very pretty.
JAXA / ISAS
The third instrument is a longwave IR one. It had the identical view of Earth, lit as a crescent by the Sun, but this wavelength is dominated by thermal emission from Earth's surface and clouds, so we can see the whole globe.
JAXA / ISAS
Read more: pics of Earth by planetary missions, pretty pictures, mission status, Akatsuki (Planet-C), Earth
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