The privately-owned Blue Ghost moon lander, developed by Firefly Aerospace from Texas, has captured rare views of a lunar eclipse from the moon’s surface. The lander touched down on March 2 in a volcanic plain on the moon’s nearside and has been busy deploying instruments and collecting data. On the night of March 13, during a total lunar eclipse when Earth’s shadow covered the moon, the Blue Ghost turned its cameras back towards Earth. The lander captured the “diamond ring effect” around 4:30 a.m. EDT, with a single point of sunlight emerging from behind Earth at the end of totality, encircling the dark disk of Earth in a glowing ring of light.
The Blue Ghost lander captured its first image of the eclipse on March 14 at 1:30 a.m. EDT, with a ring of light encircling Earth visible in the reflection on the solar panel. The first image taken around three hours earlier was deceptive, as the sun still appeared to be shining brightly. However, a reflection in the solar panels revealed an arc of light wreathing Earth with a spot of sunlight breaking through. Since landing, the spacecraft has put eight of its ten science instruments to work, including collecting and sorting lunar soil using pressurized nitrogen gas, using electrical forces for a dust shield demonstration to lift lunar dirt from glass surfaces, measuring heat flow from the moon’s interior, and testing a form of lunar GPS.
The cameras on the lander’s underside captured a video of the lander’s engine plumes interacting with the lunar surface, which could provide valuable insights for future landings to make them smoother and cleaner. While this is not the first time a spacecraft has observed an eclipse from the moon’s vicinity, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kaguya orbiter observed a penumbral eclipse in 2009, and NASA’s Surveyor 3 moon lander saw an eclipse back in 1967. The coverage of such events helps in adding to our understanding of lunar phenomena and space exploration.
The story was updated on March 14, 2025, to include an image of the diamond ring effect captured by the Blue Ghost lander and a description of the photo. The astronomy writer Lisa Grossman, who holds a degree in astronomy from Cornell University, provided contributions to this story. As climate change becomes an increasing concern, supporting climate journalism is essential, and organizations like Science News and the Society for Science rely on subscriptions and donations to strengthen environmental literacy and ensure informed responses to climate change. Subscribing to Science News and contributing financially can help expand science literacy and understanding about crucial issues like climate change.
