NASA Releases New, Stunning High-Res Images of Earth January 26, 2012

NASA Releases New, Stunning High-Res Images of Earth

By Jesse Galef
January 26, 2012

by Jesse Galef –

I’m not usually one to feel that sense of awe about the universe. But… wow. This new image NASA released yesterday as part of their “Blue Marble” project is incredible:

(I also found the absolutely enormous, 8000×8000 px version. It blew my mind.)

Really gives a sense of perspective, doesn’t it? … And then you realize that the planet is a tiny speck in the solar system, which is an even smaller speck in the galaxy, which is just one of billions of galaxies…

I think I’m going to mark the “love” tag for this post. It seems oddly appropriate.

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  • Ohhhh, that is so beautiful! Thank you, Jesse. Tonight, I’m showing about 500 kids the wonders of the universe through my big telescope. I love doing this. 

  • Kevin_Of_Bangor

    I snagged this last night and yes, it is awesome, like Hemant and Richard Wade.

  • Michael Appleman

    Doesn’t even look inhabited unless you look in the right spots.

  • Seladora

    Helloooo new desktop wallpaper!! 

  • How big is your big telescope?  My step-father ground his own 6″ and 8″ mirrors (on a miserly budget, home made measurement tools to get both to better than 1/4 wave length accuracy.  He figured more like 1/8th).  Sadly he died of a heart attack in ’81 before he could get them silvered.  His brother has them now, but I’ve never had the chance to view them.

    I have a 4″ I got cheap at a yard sale, but I have to get an eyepiece for it.

  • Michael Dann

    Today I learned that the center of the earth is guadalajara.

  • The clouds are just captivating!

  • scinquiry

    Nearly appropriate quote “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it
    everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every
    human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our
    joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and
    economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward,
    every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant,
    every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child,
    inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt
    politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and
    sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust
    suspended in a sunbeam.”  Carl Sagan

  • Hi Rich, I’m very impressed by your stepfather. Pushing glass is both an art and a labor of Hercules. 1/8th wave! Holy smoke. That is masterful craftsmanship.

    A 4″ is a good size because you’re likely to use it. The best telescope is the one you actually use. Too many gather dust in closets. Contact an astronomy club in your area, and you’ll probably find a couple of used eyepieces of appropriate focal length for a very reasonable price.

    I didn’t make any of the three I have: a 120-mm fluorite refractor, an 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain, and the one I used tonight, a 20 inch Dobsonian-Newtonian reflector. It needs an eight foot ladder to see through the eyepiece near zenith. That’s how I got my exercise tonight, going up and down that ladder 500 times. Jupiter was awesome, but the looks on the kids’ faces were better.

  • Anonymous

    Astronaut applications are due today 🙂

  • KarenLoe

    On the other hand, I AM one to feel a tremendous sense of awe from all things ASTRONOMY.  This NASA image is remarkable! 
    If you like this kind of thing, check out astronomypictureoftheday.com.  It will keep you up nights, in a good way!

    Also, the technology responsible for this type of image also staggers me AND give me a sense of pride!

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