Hera asteroid probe 'waves goodbye' at Earth and moon from 2.3 million miles away (image)

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The moon is getting smaller in the window.

two grayish orbs shrink in size as one moves from right to left above the other
Thermal images of Earth and the moon were acquired by ESA's Hera probe. (Image credit: ESA/JAXA)

Goodnight room, goodnight moon.

The Hera spacecraft, speeding on to an asteroid, took a look back at Earth's moon — and in a new animation, you can see our neighbor shrinking as Hera flies away.

Hera's images of the Earth (visible as a small dot) and the moon were taken between Oct. 10 and 15, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), which runs the mission.

Related: Earth sure looks spooky in these 'hyperspectral' images from Europe's Hera asteroid probe

"The images were acquired during the initial checkout of Hera’s Thermal Infrared Imager (TIRI) instrument, provided to the mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency," ESA officials added in a statement released Tuesday (Nov. 5).

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The Hera spacecraft launched Oct. 7 to study a binary asteroid system up close. By 2026, it should arrive at the crash site of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Mission, or DART.

The NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid moonlet, called Dimorphos, in 2022. The orbit of Dimorphos around the larger asteroid in the system, Didymos, was permanently altered after the collision.

DART's goal was to examine how well a planetary defense strategy in moving a threatening space rock away from Earth. Hera will examine the collision from a nearby vantage point, providing a different point of view than the telescopes that examined DART's aftermath before.

Additionally, Hera will examine the mineral composition of Dimorphos to provide more information about the asteroid's origins.

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Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace