NASA Releases EPIC Pics of Moon Transiting Earth

This is pretty awesome – NASA has released actual satellite images of the far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, as it crossed between Earth and the DSCOVR spacecraft one million miles away.

As NASA explains on their site, DSCOVR’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) – they’re literally EPIC pictures, see what they did there? – maintains a constant view of the fully illuminated Earth as it rotates, providing scientific observations of ozone, vegetation, cloud height and aerosols in the atmosphere. About twice a year the camera will capture the moon and Earth together.

Here it is in GIF form: