'Even in Darkness, We Glow': Human Activity Seen From Space In Pic Captured By Artemis II Crew
Astronauts en route to the Moon have sent a breathtaking picture of the nighttime glow of our home plant Earth as seen from space. The stunning picture has been taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis Commander Reid Wiseman during the ongoing historic Moon mission named 'Artemis II'.
Astronauts en route to the Moon have sent a breathtaking picture of the nighttime glow of our home plant Earth as seen from space. The stunning picture has been taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis Commander Reid Wiseman during the ongoing historic Moon mission named 'Artemis II'.
‘Even In Darkness, We Glow’
Sharing the picture of the Earth on social media, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wrote, “Even in darkness, we glow.”
The picture showed an almost entirely dark Earth. However, upon looking closely, one can spot the electric lights of human activity on out planet. Further, in the lower right of the picture, the sun was seen beautifully illuminating the limb of the planet.
Notably, the picture of the dark Earth was taken just minutes after Reid Wiseman ed the fully illuminated picture of the Earth, i.e, following the completion of the translunar injection burn.
Sharing both the pictures side-by-side, NASA explained the reason behind the stark difference between the two images.
“These two images were taken by only minutes apart. The stark difference is the result of camera settings. In the first, a longer shutter speed let in much more light from Earth, while the shorter shutter speed in the second emphasizes our planet's nighttime glow,” NASA said.
The illuminated picture is the first high resolution picture of our home planet captured from Artemis II crew's Orion spacecraft. The picture showed the Earth eclipsing the Sun with zodiacal light visible in the background. The picture also showed two auroras.
The X handle of NASA Earth shared the picture with the caption, “That's us!”, adding, "The Artemis II crew captured beautiful, high-resolution images of our home planet during their journey to the Moon. As Christina Koch put it: "You guys look great.""
Artemis II
Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon to verify today’s capabilities for humans to explore deep space and pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface.
The astronauts are on a 10-day journey around the Moon. This comes more than 50 years after Apollo astronauts went to the Moon.
Published By : Nidhi Sinha
Published On: 4 April 2026 at 00:08 IST