Maybe when we look at the moon on a full moon night we know that the earth and the moon are approaching a short distance away and we even want to reach them. This is like an illusion where the earth seems very close to the moon, even though if we look at the photo above, we know that the distance between earth and moon is very far. The photo is the result of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft taking it from above. We know that the space between our residential earth and the moon is very large and far away.
The Distance Between the Earth and the Moon
The picture of the earth and the moon facing each other is taken from data that was photographed by OSIRIS-REx’s MapCam instrument on October 2, 2017. That is the moment when the spacecraft is 3 million miles away from the earth, this is the same as having a distance about 13 times the distance between earth and moon.
In a blog post, NASA explained that: “three wavelength images of different colors are combined and color-corrected so that they look like a face and the moon is stretched out so it’s easier to enjoy or see.”
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It is at the furthest distance from the earth, or it is called the apogee, the moon is located more than 250,000 miles from the earth where we live. When the closest approach is known as “perigee”, the moon is 226,000 miles from Earth. The image of the distance between the earth and the moon is as far as 227,000 miles.
It’s amazing, even if it’s impossible to perigee, in the distance between the earth and the moon, we can fit all the planets in our solar system there. It is still possible for us to align all the planets in this solar system at the distance between the earth and the moon, even we can still put another planet Pluto there, this is really extraordinary and shows even the distance between these two planets is really very far, this is 238.555 nil.
This extraordinary photo also reminds us of the extraordinary facts of the earth: Take a look at the image below.
This asteroid has a 1 : 2,700 chance of hitting Earth at the end of the 22nd century. This spacecraft will land on Bennu, take samples, and then get ready to return to Earth.
If everything goes according to the initial plan, then scientists are said to be able to study bennu samples in the 23rd century.
Conclusion
The science of planets and space is a very broad one as it continues to evolve according to the latest discoveries from a sample of various planets. It took centuries to trace because every trial and study took an unbelievably long time. This is because the distances between the planets are very far, so the journey of a spacecraft alone takes such a long time for a space mission. Even knowing the distance between earth and moon takes a long time in research.
With this orientation, we understand that Allah’s knowledge is very broad (without limits) and that Allah’s power is limitless. Humans are only given a fraction of His knowledge.