Classic 'Blue Marble' Image Of Earth Gets An Update
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The image is iconic, timeless.
It is the famous photograph of Mother Earth, fully illuminated by the sun, taken from aboard Apollo 17 in 1972.
Capturing the image is obviously no small feat, but is made even more difficult because the light doesn't often hit the planet to capture the globe fully in sunlight.
In fact, NASA says, most other full renderings of Earth a digitized images, using a technique in which several images are stitched together.
Now, the space agency has released an image from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, which shows Earth in a similar light to the 1972 image, known at "Blue Marble."
The satellite was launched in February and made its way to its perch, 1 million miles away, where the newest picture was captured on July 6.
To compare, here are both images, courtesy of NASA.
1972 Blue Marble
2015 DSCOVR
"This first DSCOVR image of our planet demonstrates the unique and important benefits of Earth observation from space," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "As a former astronaut who's been privileged to view the Earth from orbit, I want everyone to be able to see and appreciate our planet as an integrated, interacting system."
