https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/?date=2017-12-21

https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/?date=2018-02-22

The comparisons on the December Solstice with today are as striking for the intentional avoidance of the cause of the difference than for the imaging itself. I genuinely appreciate the NASA team for placing a satellite that picks up the fully illuminated side of the Earth ( ultimately have a full array of satellites from the two other half illuminated points).

Instead of a literal pole sticking out of the Earth, why not operate with the single surface rotation where the surface turns parallel to the ecliptic as a function of the orbital motion of the Earth. Nobody is going to complain or short about priority but so long as it is done.