Rare view of Earth and Moon taken from satellite goes viral (PHOTO)

An incredible photo taken aboard the Deep Sea Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite is making the rounds on social media. The photo was actually taken 4 years ago. The DSCOVR satellite captured the unique view of the moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth.

The series of images showed the “dark side of the Moon” that is never visible from Earth, fully illuminated. The images were captured using NASA’s Enhanced Polychromatic Imager (EPIC), a camera and telescope on the DSCOVR satellite, which orbits 1 million miles from Earth.

EPIC was positioned just to capture this incredible image that only happens twice a year. Located between the Earth and the Sun, DSCOVR's primary mission is to monitor solar storms in real time.

The dark side of the moon remained a mystery until 1959, when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 sent back the first images. Since then, NASA has launched several missions to the far side of the moon, providing excellent details.

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