Today in Science: See Earth rise over the moon’s surface

NASA is sending back stunning images from Artemis II ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

April 7, 2026—Stunning images from beyond the moon, the incredible math of Orion's space path, and how to divide food fairly. Onward! —Andrea Gawrylewski Chief Newsletter Editor MOON MISSION Yesterday was a monumental day for human exploration. In the afternoon, astronauts on the Artemis II moon mission broke the record for the farthest distance traveled by a human away from Earth set in 1970 by the Apollo 13 crew. Less than six hours later, the Orion capsule went out of communication range as it passed around the far side of the moon. During the 40 minutes they were out of range, the crew, at 7:02 P.M. EDT, set a new record for farthest human from Earth at 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers).   When the 40 minutes were up, the crew captured a photo of Earth at 7:22 P.M. EDT as our planet came back into view over the surface of the moon. They called the image the new “Earthrise” since it recreates an iconic 1968 image of Earth taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts. NASA Then there was a sight no human had ever seen before: at 8:35 P.M. EDT a total eclipse of the sun seen from just a few thousand miles away from the moon’s surface. “It’s just, it’s indescribable. No matter how long we look at this, our brains are not processing this image in front of us,” Artemis II astronaut Reid Wiseman said at the time. “It is absolutely spectacular, surreal. There’s no adjectives. I’m going to need to invent some new ones to describe what we are looking at out this window.” NASA So far, the mission has captured images of the moon in unprecedented detail. The crew is making good use of the new laser-based system onboard called O2O to beam 4K images back to Earth. The astronauts were particularly entranced by the moon’s terminator—the line where light and dark meet—and the way it made the lunar topography seem to come alive. “The terminator is really bringing out the shadows and the hills and the valleys, and it is just,” Koch said during the flyby, “it’s unbelievable.” NASA See more of the first photos from the Artemis II mission here. | 2 min read To get back from the moon, the Orion spacecraft will rely on some elegant calculations and gravity to complete its “free return” trajectory. | 4 min read  The Artemis missions (including those scheduled to land on the moon starting in 2028) will answer big scientific questions about our lunar companion, such as how it formed and where its volcanic activity comes from. | 6 min read  OTHER SCIENCE NEWS Have no fear, there is a mathematical way to divide pizza fairly, even with an uneven spread of toppings. | 3 min read Last week, the Endangered Species Committee exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act, despite widespread consensus that it could lead to some species going extinct. That and more in our news roundup edition of Science Quickly. | 12 min listen The early universe may have been swarming with tiny black holes. | 5 min read  More News Want to dive deeper into the science that interests you? Consider a subscription to Scientific American.

PUZZLER Challenge your logic and arithmetic with today's 6x6 KenKen puzzle: In this grid, fill each row and column with numbers 1 through 6, while making sure the inner calculations are correct. For example, in the top left box, the resulting computation should equal 60 and result from multiplying all the numbers in that box together. More Games I have been glued to NASA's livestream of the Artemis II mission. Yes, it's part of my job, but I find myself checking in with the mission even when I'm not waiting to hear a big announcement or milestone. What's surprised me the most about the voyage so far is how much humanity is on display—among the astronauts, our readers, and even on our staff (many of us teared up as we listened to the astronauts' request for a crater on the moon to be named in honor of commander Reid Wiseman's wife, who died from cancer in 2020). Have you been following the mission? Let me know what you think and your reactions. Email me: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow.   —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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