Chinese satellite captures breathtaking image of Earth and Moon

In January, China landed a rover on the far side of the Moon that never faces Earth. Now, a new photo released by the Chinese space agency shows a rare look at both full discs from the far side of the Earth's natural satellite. The image shows our planet and the Moon from an entirely new angle.

The picture was captured by the camera housed on the Chinese DSLWP-B / Longjiang-2 satellite on February 4. This is the first ever image of the Moon's far side and the Earth after the Chang'e 5T1, took a shot of both bodies together in 2014.

Longjiang-2 had to shut down its camera for a few months in order to avoid interfering with the landing of Chang'e 4, but now it seems the operations will resume.

"Downloading these 16 kilobytes took almost 20 minutes. We did color-correct the original," one of the telescope operators, Tammo Jan Dijkema, said on Twitter. He also posted the original image that shows violet-looking Moon and Earth.

by the end of 2019, the China National Space Administration plans to launch another Chang'e 5 mission to bring first samples of the lunar soil and bring them to Earth. The mission will retrieve samples from Earth's natural satellite or scout for water on the surface. The mission will also examine potential areas where it can set up a base for humans, according to Chinese state media.