From the white swirls of clouds, the azure sky, ocean radiating sapphire to the nearly liquid lunar surface... Who would dare miss to see NASA's newly released photos of the Earth? 

Recently, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) of NASA took one-of-a-kind pictures of the Earth during the spacecraft's orbit around the moon.

Like Us on Facebook

"The image of the Earth evokes the famous 'Blue Marble' image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture," said LRO's deputy project scientist Noah Petro.

The photo depicts the Earth seemingly rising over the lunar horizon. The earth's full disk as well as landmarks of Africa, the Arabian peninsula and South America are all captured in the image. 

"The Earth may not move across the 'sky', but the view is not static," LRO mission scientist Mark Robinson said. "Future astronauts will see the continents rotate in and out of view and the ever-changing pattern of clouds will always catch one's eye, at least on the nearside."

Actually, the LRO can experience at least 12 Earthrises in a day, but there were only a few instance the crew captured a tandem between the Earth and moon because of concentratedly monitoring the latter's lunar surface.

The image was taken by two cameras on October 12 when the probe was situated 83 miles above Compton, a crater on the far side of the moon.

For a long time, the agency has been trying to capture Earth and moon together. In 1966, its first black and white photo was taken by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Two years later, Apollo 8's crew showed an Earthrise photo. A notable blue marble photo was also taken by a crew in Apollo 17.

TagsNASA, Earthrise, moon, Earth photos, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, astronauts, apollo, spacecraft, Astronomy, Earth, Space, space photos, World, US, NASA Earth Photos, NASA Earth Photot from Moon