Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                               2021 February 5
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                          Apollo 14 Heads for Home
     Image Credit: [3]Apollo 14, [4]NASA, JSC, ASU (Image Reprocessing:
                              [5]Andy Saunders)

   Explanation: [6]Fifty years ago this Sunday (February 7, 1971), the
   crew [7]of Apollo 14 left lunar orbit and [8]headed for home. They
   watched [9]this Earthrise from their command module Kittyhawk. With
   Earth's sunlit crescent just peeking over the lunar horizon, the
   cratered terrain in the foreground is along the lunar farside. Of
   course, while orbiting the Moon, the crew could watch Earth rise and
   set, but from the lunar surface the Earth hung stationary in the sky
   over their landing site at [10]Fra Mauro Base. Rock samples returned
   from Fra Mauro included a 20 pound rock nicknamed Big Bertha,
   determined to contain a likely fragment of a [11]meteorite from planet
   Earth. Kept on board the Kittyhawk during the Apollo 14 mission was a
   cannister of 400-500 seeds that were later grown into [12]Moon Trees.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2102/AS14-71-9845v2wmktwtr4Jerry.jpg
   3. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo14info.html
   4. https://www.nasa.gov/
   5. https://twitter.com/andysaunders_1
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/index.html
   7. https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14.html
   8. https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap14fj/26_day6_tei_resting.html
   9. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS14-71-9845
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Mauro_formation
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210203.html
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/moon-trees-stand-as-living-testaments-to-first-voyages-to-moon.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210204.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210205
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210206.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/