Earth From Outer Space

Some facts about our planet Earth:
• Earth is the third planet from the Sun.
• Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago.
• Life formed on Earth 3.6 billion years ago
• Approximately 71% of Earth's surface is covered by salt water oceans.
• Earth's atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other ingredients
• The name 'Earth' is at least 1,000 years old. The name Earth is an English/German word, which simply means the ground: eor(th)e and ertha (Old English) and erde (German)
• Earth's mean radius: 6,371 km (3,958.8 miles)
• Earth's mass: 5,972,190,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
• Earth's distance from the Sun: 149,600,000 km
• Earth's circumference: 40,075 km

Seeing Earth from outer space is one of the most beautiful and spiritual experiences according to me. I think any person, if given the opportunity to be in outer space to see Earth from such a celestial view, will have emotions drawn out of them that illuminates the relevance and importance of our Earthly home. Earth is special. And whilst the opportunity to actually be in outer space is limited to only a handful, our ability to appreciate and adore our planet does not require space travel.

Thanks to images collected by astronomers and satellite/spacecraft technology, we can see our planet from places we only dream of. And these images expand our views, expand our minds and our awareness of the universe we live in.

The following image is not only the first photo to have been taken from outer space, it is the first image of Earth from such heights (taken on October 24, 1946):

The Blue Marble From Apollo 17
Credit: Image courtesy NASA Johnson Space Center

This photograph of Earth was taken on December 7, 1972. This is the original caption written for this photo:

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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. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is the Malagasy Republic. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast.

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This image is a montage and it is one of the most detailed images of Earth ever created. It was taken by the Suomi NPP satellite on 4 January 4th, 2012:

(Image Credit: NASA)

Sunset Over South America - this photograph was taken by crew aboard the International Space Station.

(Image Credit: NASA)

An animation of Earth created through stitching together many months of observations:

(Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Earths City Lights - by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC

The Water Planet

(Image Credit: NASA)

First View of Earth From Moon

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On Aug. 23, 1966, the world received its first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain. The image was taken during the spacecraft’s 16th orbit.

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Image credit: NASA