GOES-16: Moon over Planet Earth
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Launched last November
19 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the satellite now known as GOES-16 can now observe planet Earth from ageostationary
orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.
Its Advanced Baseline
Imager captured this contrasting view of Earth and a gibbous Moon on January
15.
The stark and airless
Moon is not really the focus of GOES-16, though.
Capable of providing a
high resolution full disk image of Earth every 15 minutes in 16 spectral
channels, the new generation satellite's instrumentation is geared to provide
sharper, more detailed views of Earth's dynamic weather systems and
enable more accurate weather forecasting.
Like previous GOES
weather satellites, GOES-16 will use the moon over our fair planet as a
calibration target.
