The black background of space contrasts with the white-grey color of the moon. The moon rests in the center seeming to float peacefully in space. About sixty percent of the moon is illuminated by the sun showing some of the larger craters that darken the moon’s surface.

Physics of the Moon

The Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft took this photo on July 31, 2005. MESSENGER took the photo with the Wide-Angle Camera (WAC) at 992, 814 km (616, 906 miles) from Earth. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

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