Here's what Earth and the Moon look like to a telescope on a Mars orbiter that's 127 million miles from home

The HiRISE telescopic instrument in orbit around Mars captured this view of Earth and the Moon, showing continent-size detail on our home planet. (Source: ASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona) (Source: ASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona) Just two days ago, I posted a spectacular picture from the most powerful telescope orbiting Mars showing a fresh blast zone and crater gouged into the surface of Mars by an impacting space rock. Now, comes this spectacular composite image, acquired around the same time. You're looking at Earth and the Moon, as seen on Nov. 20, 2016 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Mars orbiter was 127 million miles from our home planet when HiRISE captured the images that were composited to produce this view.

SEE ALSO: A chunk of interplanetary debris recently slammed into Mars and left this fresh crater and spray of ejecta

The bright blob at the ...