This spectacular blue marble image is the most detailed true color image of the entire earth to date.
Blue marble picture apollo 8.
It was taken by the crew of the apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the moon and is one of the most reproduced images in history.
It was not until this stunning photo along with many others came back to earth with the apollo 8 astronauts in late december 1968 that we saw earth as a vibrant delicate blue and white globe framed by the velvety blackness of space.
That was the last of the apollo moon missions but nasa s space probes continued to take.
On december 7 1972 the crew of apollo 17 changed the way we look at our home planet.
From the great distance of the moon nearly the entire western hemisphere is visible.
View of the earth as seen by the apollo 17 crew astronaut eugene a.
This is the first picture of the earth from lunar orbit.
The new collection is called the blue marble.
Earthrise was followed by blue marble a view of the earth taken from the apollo 17 spacecraft in 1972.
Here s the story behind the picture blue marble.
Using a collection of satellite based observations scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface oceans sea ice and clouds into a seamless true color mosaic of every square kilometer 386 square mile of our planet.
The blue marble is an image of earth taken on december 7 1972 from a distance of about 29 000 kilometers 18 000 miles from the planet s surface.
It was taken by the astronaut bill anders on christmas eve 1968 as the apollo 8 spacecraft rounded the dark side of the moon for a fourth time.
This translunar coast photograph extends from the mediterranean sea area to the antarctica south polar ice cap.
Although not a blue marble as it s in black and white lunar orbiter 1 took an earlier earthrise photo on august 23 1966.
This is the first picture of the earth from lunar orbit.
And scientist astronaut harrison h.
Evans command module pilot.
T his photograph is now half a century old.
Apollo 8 s earthrise photo changed our understanding of our place in the universe.
It mainly shows the earth from the mediterranean sea to antarctica.
The home planet as seen from lunar orbit christmas.