                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                                2026 March 22

                                Leaving Earth
   Video Credit: NASA, JHU Applied Physics Lab, Carnegie Inst. Washington,
                                  MESSENGER

   Explanation: What would it look like to leave planet Earth? Such an
   event was recorded visually in great detail by the MESSENGER spacecraft
   as it swung back past the Earth in 2005 on its way in toward the planet
   Mercury. Earth can be seen rotating in this time-lapse video, as it
   recedes into the distance. The sunlit half of Earth is so bright that
   background stars are not visible. The robotic MESSENGER spacecraft
   orbit around Mercury from 2011 to 2015 has conducted the first complete
   map of the surface. On occasion, MESSENGER peered back at its home
   world. MESSENGER is one of the few things created on the Earth that
   will never return. At the end of its mission, MESSENGER was
   purposefully crashed into Mercury's surface.

                  Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
                      Tomorrow's picture: light pillars
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

