NASA’s historic Artemis II mission — which successfully concluded last month — continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Case in point, NASA recently uploaded a gallery of photos taken during the mission and they are all, in a word, stunning. So stunning, in fact, that they hardly look real. (Of course, they are real. Never let it be said that I spread silly conspiracy theories here on Opus.)
I had a hard time picking a photo to feature for this post, but I opted for one that really conveys the vastness of space and our place in it while also revealing details of the Moon’s dark side. However, I also really like this stark, almost abstract photo that captures the flare of a solar eclipse peeking out from behind the Moon’s curvature.
All of these photos are available on Unsplash, meaning they’re free to download. I suspect that more than a few of them will end up as backgrounds on computers, tablets, and phones around the world, not to mention prints hanging on people’s walls. All of which serve to bring the unfathomable beauty of the cosmos that much closer to us.