Moon sinks into the gloom

An astronaut's view of the Moon, seen through the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY an Expedition 28 crewmember aboard the International Space Station, this image shows the Moon at centre, with the limb (edge of the atmosphere) of Earth near the bottom transitioning into the orange-coloured troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of our planet’s atmosphere.

The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and blue-coloured parts of the atmosphere.

Adapted from information issued by NASA.

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