Earth from Afar

The Six Million-Mile View of Earth and Moon
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The Six Million-Mile View of Earth and Moon

This image shows Earth and the Moon from six million miles away.

Published Sep 1, 2011

Image of the Day Remote Sensing

Earth’s Magnetosphere
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Earth’s Magnetosphere

Earth is a great magnet, and scientists have spent a century exploring its shape and structure. This visualization shows the magnetic field around Earth, or magnetosphere.

Published Apr 23, 2011

Image of the Day Land

Earth and Moon from Mercury
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Earth and Moon from Mercury

Looking back from its orbit around Mercury, MESSENGER captured this view of Earth and the Moon on May 6, 2010.

Published Sep 9, 2010

Image of the Day Remote Sensing

Earth from the Moon
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Earth from the Moon

From orbit around the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of Earth in June 2010.

Published Jul 31, 2010

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

Apollo 11 Landing Site
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Apollo 11 Landing Site

Forty years after the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the descent stage of the Eagle lunar module.

Published Jul 20, 2009

Image of the Day Human Presence

View of Earth from MESSENGER
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View of Earth from MESSENGER

This image of Earth was captured by the MESSENGER spacecraft during a flyby of our home planet on August 2, 2005. Parts of South and North America were in view.

Published May 8, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water Remote Sensing

Earth Viewed by Apollo 8
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Earth Viewed by Apollo 8

This stunning photo came back to Earth with the Apollo 8 astronauts in late December 1968.

Published Nov 27, 2008

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

Earthrise 1966
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Earthrise 1966

Long before man journeyed to the moon and looked back at the tiny, fragile planet that houses humanity, lunar orbiters were sending back pictures of home.

Published Nov 15, 2008

Image of the Day Remote Sensing

Earth and the Moon
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Earth and the Moon

From 31 million miles away, how could you tell that there was life on Earth? Scientists used the remote vantage point of NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft to shoot a sequence of images that will help to help answer that question.

Published Jul 22, 2008

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

MESSENGER Views Mercury, Sends Earth a Postcard
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MESSENGER Views Mercury, Sends Earth a Postcard

The spacecraft captured images of parts of Mercury’s surface that planetary scientists had never seen.

Published Jan 22, 2008

Image of the Day Land

A View of Earth from Saturn
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A View of Earth from Saturn

Seen from a billion kilometers away, through the ice and dust particles of Saturn’s rings, Earth appears as a tiny, bright dot.

Published Jan 16, 2007

Image of the Day Life

Earth from the Moon: A Different Perspective on the Harvest Moon
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Earth from the Moon: A Different Perspective on the Harvest Moon

Over the stark, scarred surface of the moon, the Earth floats in the void of space, a watery jewel swathed in ribbons of clouds.

Published Oct 4, 2004

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Earth and Moon as Viewed from Mars
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Earth and Moon as Viewed from Mars

This is one of the first images of Earth taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk.

Published May 23, 2003

Image of the Day Land

Apollo 17 Anniversary
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Apollo 17 Anniversary

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission and the famous “Blue Marble” full Earth image, Goddard Space Flight Center’s Visualization and Analysis Lab has rendered a new visualization inspired by the mission.

Published Dec 7, 2002

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

The Blue Marble from Apollo 17
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The Blue Marble from Apollo 17

View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap.

Published Jan 31, 2001

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

Earth from Space
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Earth from Space

This true-color image shows North and South America as they would appear from 35,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth.

Published Oct 17, 2000

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water