Discussion: NASA Captures First New Images Of Entire Sunlit Earth In More Than 40 Years

system1 · July 21, 2015, 7:55pm

Discussion for article #238623

carlosfiance · July 21, 2015, 8:11pm

It’s our only home, folks. Let’s take care of it a bit better, OK?

bnichols · July 21, 2015, 8:41pm

“Apollo 17 astronaut Buzz Aldrin added context for Monday’s milestone in a blog post, saying the project “is an innovative advance in redefining the word ‘exploration’ – and also is a powerful stepping stone to practice similar operations at Mars and its moons to establish a settlement on the planet Mars.””

Buzz Aldrin was on Apollo 11 not Apollo 17. The Apollo 17 crew was Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt. The late Dr. Schmitt later served as a senator from Arizona.

blue_bear · July 21, 2015, 8:45pm

It is odd that the article includes only a partial image of the current photo, but the whole image of the 1972 photo. Why is that?

For those of you that are interested, here is a link to the full photo:

It is pretty cool.

blueberrytomatosoup · July 21, 2015, 9:15pm

Thanks, I came to the comment section for the whole purpose to see if someone had linked to the whole picture. I thought it odd they didn’t even link to it in the article.

greggilman · July 21, 2015, 9:24pm

I also thought it was odd the article included no link to the new photo. Thanks Blue_Bear for posting the url.

ncsteve · July 21, 2015, 9:34pm

I’d really, really like to know if the difference between the vibrant color of the Apollo era images and the less saturated color of the shuttle era images (and this one) is the difference between film and CCD or whether it’s symptomatic of change to the atmosphere, seas and.or land masses.

irasdad · July 21, 2015, 9:35pm

I’m not impressed.

Sure, there’s a well-funded campaign to convince us this is a photo of Earth – but many scientists are skeptical that our planet is round, that its surface is 70% water, or that it has an atmosphere.

Despite all the “global imaging” hysteria, there’s simply no scientific consensus this picture is of Earth. Given so much controversy, it would be premature and naïve to draw any conclusions at this point.

This may or may not be a photograph of our planet. We just don’t know. More study is needed.

The jury is still out.

daveyjones64 · July 21, 2015, 9:44pm

Well,according to the photo…it IS flat. So that’s something, right?

blue_bear · July 21, 2015, 9:47pm

My guess is they were using Kodachrome in the 1972 flight, which always tended to have a blue cast. When you are taking a picture of something that is mostly water, this enhances the color experience.

clunkertruck · July 21, 2015, 10:05pm

Dude ----- I’ve give ya 2 if I could ! ! –

ncsteve · July 21, 2015, 10:12pm

Well, you went and got me curious. Apparently, NASA contracted with Kodak to develop special film for the modified automatic Hasselblads they used and it looks like Kodak used variants of Ektachrome, so yeah, even more blue saturation than Kodachrome.

(Okay, I’m having one of those old photography nerd “alas, poor film I knew you well” nostalgia moments now. Sounds like you are likely to be having one too. Plus that damn Simon and Garfunkel song is now stuck in my head.)

clunkertruck · July 21, 2015, 10:12pm

When the pic hit the tube in '72 … I remember that I cried – I didn’t know why at the time… It was just that beautiful and it brought home how " alone " we really are – It amazes me now that there are still some that can find it within themselves to destroy any part of it for personal gain –

lockheedkeynesian · July 21, 2015, 10:13pm

If this is earth, as some claim, then where are the cars?

ncsteve · July 21, 2015, 10:16pm

Nope, this photo would lend credence to the insane idea that the flat Earth has a heads and a tails side. And that’s crazy because how would the people on downward facing side stick to it?

clemmers · July 21, 2015, 10:25pm

Photoshopped fer sure!!!

readerfromcalif · July 21, 2015, 10:40pm

I’m struck by the amount of haze in the new picture. And yet there’s a small spot of turquoise either around the southern most part of Florida or in the Bahamas which suggests the color may not be too far off. Maybe it was the earlier photo that was too saturated with color. Hard to tell.

Ack!! Just went back to look and found the larger version. Wow! And the turquoise is clearly the Bahamas. That gets filed!

readerfromcalif · July 21, 2015, 10:49pm

Don’t you mean, where are the flying cars?

It’s the 21st century and we were supposed to have them by now.

zdjh22 · July 21, 2015, 10:49pm

If I recall correctly, the DSCOVR satellite was built and ready to go in 2000 but was mothballed at NASA during the Bush/Cheney years (perhaps because it was promoted by Al Gore in the late '90s as important for the study of climate change). Ironically, some climate change deniers like to say any warming is due to solar activity; well, this was just the instrument to support their claim. It’s nice to see that it’s on station and will finally be fulfilling its mission.

See
http://www.desmogblog.com/dscovr-killed-dick-cheney-nasa-insider-climate-change-satellite
for a 2008 discussion of the languishing instrument.

blue_bear · July 21, 2015, 10:52pm

Steve - thanks for the detailed follow up. I think it was the damn song that made me think Kodachrome rather than Ektachrome. Indeed, Ektachrome had even more blue saturation, so that would explain it. I shot a Yosemite camping trip with Ektachrome and a polarizing filter in around 1982 - best blue skies I ever shot.

Yes, having quite a bit of geeky nostalgia for my old Nikon FE at the moment.