Science Glance
It has only been a couple days since NASA successfully launched astronauts to the moon for the first time in over half a century. But the Artemis II mission's four-person crew has already delivered striking postcards from their journey: behind-the-scenes photos of what they've been up to in the cabin, and jaw-dropping visuals of the planet we call home.
Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman snapped a photo of the Earth nearly eclipsing the Sun, and what's known as zodiacal light nearby — which, during an eclipse, takes a triangular shape when sunlight bounces off of dust particles. In the same image, Earth is flanked by the northern and southern auroras at its top right and bottom left.
Another photo, also by Wiseman, shows Earth's terminator line, which separates day from night.
The crew is working with NASA's science team to determine what other photos may be of interest once they start to orbit the moon, said Lakiesha Hawkins, the acting deputy associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
Snow surveys taking place across the American west this week are offering a grim prognosis, after a historically warm winter and searing March temperatures left the critical snowpack at record-low levels across the region.
In the middle of the 7th century, a plague swept through the walled city of Jerash, in what is now modern-day Jordan.
On February 26, 2025, a NASA probe called Lunar Trailblazer lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its mission was to map the water on the moon. But a day after launch, mission managers lost contact with the spacecraft, and it was never heard from again.
