Moonrise seen from orbit. View of the Moon, just before sunrise, seen from the orbiting Shuttle Columbia during Mission STS-52. Note that only a thin crescent of the Moon is directly illuminated by the Sun, most of the visible surface is illuminated by Earth-shine. The Sun, still about 28 degrees below the horizon, provides enough light to scatter in the atmosphere and show the different layers. Silhouetted at the horizon is a dense cloud layer. The strong red/brown band is the tropopause, separating the stratosphere (blue/white) from the troposphere (yellow). This photograph was taken in late October 1992.