NASA released a spectacular new image of the Earth from the moon

From the surface of the moon, the Earth never rises or sets. 

Our satellite is locked in place by our planet's gravity, so only one side is ever visible. This is why we can never see the dark side of the moon. 

From the view of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), however, it can look like the Earth is rising above the surface of the moon.

The spacecraft took this stunning photo, which NASA released December 18:  

Here's how they did it, as explained by Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe, principal investigator for LROC:

The LRO was 83 miles above the Compton Crater on the moon's far side, traveling over 3,580 miles per hour.

For every pixel, LRO's cameras imaged Earth between 20 and 50 times. This GIF shows their motion (the black bars are the spaces between the cameras).

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Each image was stitched together to form the full picture, then processed to make the moon surface clearer and to give the Earth its true color.