Explanation: During the
Astro-1 astronomy mission of December, 1990,
Space Shuttle astronauts photographed this
stunning view of the setting full moon above the Earth's limb. In the foreground, towering clouds of condensing
water vapor mark the extent of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the planet's life-sustaining
atmosphere. Strongly scattering blue sunlight, the upper atmospheric layer, the stratosphere, fades dramatically to the black background of space.
Moon and
clouds are strong visual elements of many well known portraits of
planet Earth, including Ansel Adams' famous
"Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico", photographed in 1941.
(Source:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0010/moonrise_sts35_big.jpg )