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Do you want to know how lonely our planet actually is? Just check out the latest images taken by the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft. As it flew towards an asteroid, the probe captured photos of Earth and the Moon, floating in the darkness of space with nothing else around. 

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Our planet and its lunar satellite start to get smaller and smaller as Hera travels from around 1.4 million km to 3.8 million kilometres away in October.

Hera took off for the asteroid moon Dimorphos on October 7, 2024, and will investigate the changes it underwent after being struck by the DART mission in 2022. 

During its journey, it clicked surreal pictures of the two, giving a peek into how alone we really are in the universe. The images were taken as part of a test of its Thermal Infrared Imager (TIRI) instrument, a contribution by JAXA. 

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The photos were taken between October 10 (1.4 million km away) and October 15 (3.8 million km away).

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"As #HeraMission sped away from its homeworld it witnessed the Moon orbiting Earth," the agency posted online.

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Also Read: Mission to probe 'crime scene' on Dimorphos ready for blast off

The photos give a sense of how far away everything from each other is in space. It shows the moon revolving around Earth at a great distance. Notably, the moon is located about 384,633 km from us. At its nearest point to us, it is about 364,000 km away, while at its farthest, it’s about 406,000 km away.

Hera to probe asteroid moon

The Hera spacecraft is only about the size of a car and is preparing to land on Dimorphos. It will reach its destination in Dec 2026 and will be about 195 million kilometres from Earth at that time. 

Dimorphos does not pose a threat to Earth. The DART mission impacted the asteroid moon to understand whether humans can deflect a potentially dangerous asteroid in the future. Hera will land on its surface and gather data 

Following the impact mission, Dimorphos shed a lot of material and its orbit around Didymos shortened by 33 minutes. Scientists say it is probably just a pile of rubble held together by gravity. So the impact did not create a crater, instead, it changed its form to a large extent.

The Hera probe has two nanosatellites on board, one of which - Juventas - will land on Dimorphos, a first on such a small asteroid. The second nanosatellite - Milani - will hover above and use cameras and other instruments to study the asteroid's composition. In its final days, Hera will also land on Dimorphos or Didymos before it finally goes to sleep.