Move over, Ellen DeGeneres’ famous 2014 Oscars selfie, there’s a new player in town: China’s space probe, which is halfway to an asteroid, took a stunning selfie in front of Earth as it glows tiny in the background.
The Chinese probe Tianwen-2 was caught taking photos for its Instagram profile, using the surveillance camera installed on its robotic arm.
In the frame, we can see the probe’s return capsule sparkling white, the Chinese flag proudly displayed, and all in the background… our home planet, reduced to a tiny shimmering dot.
At the time of the selfie, Tianwen-2 was approximately 43 million kilometers from Earth, almost exactly the same distance from its target asteroid.
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Chinese space probe takes stunning selfie in front of Earth
Have you ever heard the expression “if you didn’t put it on Instagram, then it never happened”?
Well, it seems that, just like millions of people, China’s space probe seems to agree. He essentially broke the Internet by posting a selfie that had as much cultural impact as the selfie Ellen took at the 2014 Oscars.
The Tianwen-2 probe is heading toward an asteroid, but it decided to celebrate halfway there by snapping a quick photo of our glowing home planet about 43 million miles away.
By the way, Tianwen-2 is the same distance from its destination asteroid, so celebrations were certainly in order.
Halfway to its asteroid destination
The Tianwen-2 probe was only launched at the end of May this year, so it is making very good progress towards Kamoʻoalewa, AKA 2016 HO3.
Kamoʻoalewa is often referred to as a “mini-moon” because it orbits close to Earth, and the ETA of the Chinese space probe is July 2026.
It will collect dust and rock samples and send them back to Earth in 2027. After that, it will continue to a comet called 311P/PANSTARRS where it will arrive in 2035, everything will be fine.
The selfie is great because it shows us that the space probe is doing well and everything is in working order, while also reminding us how small Earth is compared to the rest of the universe.
We must send a big thank you to Tianwen-2 for keeping us humble.
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