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The first ever photograph of the far side of the Moon. Taken on October 7th, 1959 by the Soviet Union's Luna 3 probe.
(hexbear.net)
The images we have nowadays are of course significantly clearer, but there's something about this low quality photo that is far more awe inspiring given the context.
It's a brief impression of something that no creature on Earth was ever meant to see. Nearly every Earthling has seen the near side of the moon, but the far side was supposed to be forever just out of reach. A sort of forbidden knowledge that we nevertheless barely obtained by the skin of our teeth through monumental scientific and engineering progress that would have been unthinkable for the vast majority of human history.
I can't imagine what went through the minds of the very first people to view this image after compiling the raw data from Luna 3's instruments.
The image of Pluto from New Horizons gives me similar feels. People have been fascinated by Pluto since its discovery in 1930, and only a few years ago we managed to send extremely high res photos back from a probe that took a decade to travel there.
Most of the Cassini probe images of the Saturn system are incredible. One of my favorites
Granted, I think this post about the moon takes the cake, since humans have wondered about the moon for millennia.
Man Saturn is fucking crazy. And we made a thing and sent it there.
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Thank you!
The Venera pictures of Venus' surface give me a similar feel
Look at this shit
That's from the surface of a planet with crushing atmospheric pressure (93 times that of Earth) and a temperature of 453C (847F). It's insane