Join the World Science Festival Mailing List
The ‘Blue Marble’ Shot Through History
In order to take the best group photo of all time, you’ll need technology that’s a little more advanced than a selfie stick. Fortunately, NASA has that covered. Since the 1960s, astronauts and satellites have been sending us beautiful portraits of our home planet. Photographing Earth as a whole is a bit daunting. For one, you need to be far enough away to get a full view of the planet’s disc (so, for example, the low-earth orbit at the level of the International Space Station won’t do). You also have to be at the right position between the Earth and the sun to avoid shadows—a tenuous operation as you’re zooming away in a spacecraft or hurtling around the planet. Still, it can be done. And magnificently so.
Read More