Blue Ghost Moon Lander Captures First-Ever Photos of a Lunar Sunset

Matt Growcoot
Bright light on a rocky lunar landscape, with a glowing celestial body above, set against a stark black sky.
The Sun sets on the Moon’s horizon as Earth shines brightly above.

The Blue Ghost Moon lander has captured the first-ever high-definition photos of a lunar sunset.

The images were revealed last night at a press conference (Tuesday) at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. The event marked the end of Firefly Aerospace’s successful 14-day mission, which was undertaken in partnership with NASA.

The incredible images were taken looking west and also show Earth above the Sun shining brightly; Venus is visible as a small dot as well.

A stark, cratered lunar surface under a dark sky. Two bright celestial bodies, likely the Sun and Earth, appear above the horizon, casting light across the barren landscape.

The image shows a bright light emerging over the horizon of a barren, rocky landscape, resembling the surface of a celestial body like the moon, against a dark sky. The foreground is textured with shadows.

A dimly lit lunar surface with a bright glare on the horizon, likely from the sun peeking over. The Earth is visible in the dark sky above, alongside a smaller celestial body. The scene is mostly in shadow.

“These are the first high-definition images taken of the Sun going down and then going into darkness at the horizon,” says Joel Kearn, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration, science mission directorate.

“The images themselves are beautiful, they’re really aesthetic, but I know there are a bunch of folks looking at them now that study the Moon. Now it’s time for the specialists in the field to examine it and compare it to the other data we have from the mission and see what conclusions they can propose and draw from.”

Lunar horizon glow is present in the images as well — it’s a phenomenon first noticed by astronaut Eugene Cernan who was one of the last men to set foot on the Moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The glow is believed to be caused by tiny dust particles floating on the Moon’s thin atmosphere that are illuminated at lunar sunrise and sunset.

It’s the final photo in a series of spectacular captures made by Blue Ghost which touched down on the Moon on March 2. It captured a view of the Blood Moon eclipse last week, a beautiful shot of its shadow on the lunar surface, and a fantastic shot of planet Earth as it flew past during its trip. The sunset photo marks the beginning of the lunar night which lasts for two weeks.

“Firefly Aerospace is extremely proud to have accomplished this first fully successful commercial moon landing,” Jason Kim, Firefly’s chief executive, says.

“I truly believe Firefly and Blue Ghost’s historic mission will be a new chapter in textbooks and become a beacon of what humanity can achieve.”

Image credits: Firefly Aerospace

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