                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 November 23

                             Earthset from Orion
                        Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1

   Explanation: Eight billion people are about to disappear in this
   snapshot from space. Taken on November 21, the sixth day of the Artemis
   1 mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as
   viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. The
   Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130
   kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver
   will be used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That
   orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers
   beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft will orbit in
   the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet Earth. Orion
   will enter its distant retrograde orbit on Friday, November 25.
   Swinging around the Moon, Orion will reach a maximum distance (just
   over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on Monday November 28 exceeding a
   record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human
   space exploration.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

