Best “Blue Marble” Images Yet

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The Goddard Space Flight Center has a Flickr account showcasing a series of images of our own home planet. Called “Blue Marble,” these spectacular images are the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations in 2001 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. Your tax dollars at work, these images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. This record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.

Compare these new images to the original “Blue Marble” photograph, below, taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1968.