Earth from Space

How the Earth looks from space? Until recent history no one could see the earth from space. Although it was known for many years that the earth is round, It was not possible to reach the requires heights to see it. Surprisingly you do not need to go far to see the curve of Earth. Twenty kilometers (14 Miles) upward will be enough, but regular airlines never reach this high, and only few army jet pilots ever reached so high.
In this page I will present many photos of Earth from space, and we will start with the newest two pictures of earth from space by NASA satellite Suomi NPP which was launched not long ago, and sent back these two picture of earth from space

Space from Earth - Americas. Credit:NASA

This photo can (and shall) be compared to the famous blue marble picture of Apollo 17. Personally I like the old soft photo, as the new photo seems to sharp and digital. Compare for yourself later at this article.

Space from Earth - Africa and Middle east . Credit:NASA

However, the more interesting photos are not from Low Earth Orbit, but from spaceship far far away on wither sides of the earth (Close to the Sun or at the edge of the solar system). Let's start with a recent photo.
Juno mission to Jupiter was launched at August 5th 2011, Just 3 weeks after the launch, Juno turned back and photographed Earth and the moon. While it is a simple photo of lots of black and two dots, this photo is very interesting. It is clearly seen that the moon is darker than Earth (Check the article about the moon brightness). Earth is covered with clouds and water which are more reflective than the dark soil of the moon. Also, it is very easy to compare the size of the Earth and the moon. If all you see in the pictures are two dots on a black background, please think again.

Earth and Moon from space. Credit: NASA

One of the most famous pictures of earth from space is from Apollo 8 mission. The astronauts of this mission were the first to saw the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, and they submitted the famous "Earthrise" photo. Before that, and on the way to the moon they photographed the Earth. It was the first time that the whole earth was photographed from space. The astronaut who photographed it was probably Bill (William) Anders, who flight to space only in this mission

First picture of the whole earth - Apollo 8 Credit: NASA

This is the less famous Earthrise photo, just in the moment of rising.

Earth-rise - Apollo 8 Credit: NASA

And this is the more famous photo. Judge for yourself which you like more.

Earthrise - Apollo 8 Credit: NASA

However, Apollo 8 was not the first to photograph  Earthrise, an unmanned mission, Luna orbiter, did it in 1966, In black and White poor resolution.

The first earthrise photo.  LUNA ORBITER. Credit: NASA

 As you probably notice, Earth has phases just like the moon, depending on their angle from the sun. the first photo of the Full earth was captured by the last of Apollo missions, Apollo 17, and was nicknamed "The blue marble"

The full earth from space - The Blue Marble - Apollo 17. Credit: NASA

During 2003, Mars was quite close to Earth (Just 55 Million km). It was a great opportunity to observe Mars, but it was also a chance to photo the Earth from Mars. Mars Global Surveyor took this amazing photo of the Earth and the Moon.

The Earth and the Moon from Mars. Credit: JPL MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR NASA

Another very famous photo is the "pale blue dot". It is an amazing photo because it give you proportions about us, the earth and the size of the universe. Our planet is merely one pixel in this photo taken by Voyager 1 from 6.4 Billion km (4 Billion miles).

Earth from Saturn! The earth is a pale blue dot in one of the white stripes (at the right side of the photo). Taken by Voyager 1. Credit: NASA.

Cassini is orbiting Saturn sending amazing pictures day after day. This is a photo showing Earth through the rings of Saturn. Please enlarge the photo and see Earth as a little dot at the left side of the rings.

The earth through Saturn rings. Cassini. Credit: NASA

Next photos are from the Rosetta which is on its way to visit some asteroids in 2014. Its trajectory was designed to save energy and it included an approach to earth, on which the following sequence was taken.

Earth from Rosetta. Credit: ESA

The last photo is from Mercury. Messenger mission took this photo in August 2012 from 183 Million km (115 Million miles) and capture The Earth and the moon as a double star (Binary star) in the sky.

Earth and moon photographed by MESSENGER. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington