A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1068 entries
Earthrise
The rising of the earth above the lunar horizon, as seen from the Moon or from lunar orbit. The word names a specific, singular shift in human consciousness: On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders photographed the Earth rising above the Moon’s surface — a small, blue, achingly beautiful sphere hanging in black nothing — and the image changed how the species understood its home.
Etymology
Coined by analogy with sunrise, following Apollo 8’s 1968 photograph — Earth (Old English eorðe) + rise (Old English rīsan).
Notes
Anders’ photograph is sometimes credited as the catalyst for the modern environmental movement. He later said: “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”