NASA releases stunning 64-megapixel photo of Earth - Polidicks

Looks very not green

I can see my house from here :o [editline]25th January 2012[/editline] Also, it is the middle of winter, a lot of things around now tend to be.....dead and depressing. Not much color exists in the winter time.

That's incredible, by far the most impressive picture of the planet I've ever seen.

Hello, new wallpaper!

[QUOTE='[CWG]RustySpannerz;34393145']What amazes me most is how brown America is, it's not usually interpreted this way in films and such. I personally associate desert with Africa or the middle east, but the US is actually a lot more desert than I thought.[/QUOTE] Not desert, dry grasses on the great plains, i know, i live in the center of the US.

Amazing, new wallpaper for me.

I can see the bay I live by.

what time of year the photos were taken also probably contribute to the color

Sucks for South America. It's almost completely blocked by clouds.

[QUOTE=tomatmann;34393357] How come I cannot see stars? [/QUOTE] You cannot see stars from space because of all the light reflecting off of Earth (or any other plant or moon you would like to substitute) You can only see stars at night on the Earth or maybe on the unlit side of the Earth from space because there is less light and the sun is blocked.

Wow. When are we going to see Europe or Asia on such a picture? Or at least do a night shot so we can watch the show.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;34392715]OBVIOUSLY a photo containing the USA, I wanna see Europe![/QUOTE] [B]North American[/B] Space Agency. I'm sure that's why it's 'obviously' a picture of the US. I wanna see Africa and Europe at night.

[QUOTE=Sickle;34394993][B]North American[/B] Space Agency.[/QUOTE] The... What?

[QUOTE=Sickle;34394993][B]North American[/B] [/QUOTE] So that's why it's out of funds...

[QUOTE=Sickle;34394993][B]North American[/B] Space Agency.[/QUOTE] National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I didn't know that most of America was desert.

Is 90% of the United States of America covered in desert? From the looks of the picture, it looks like the USA is a desert wasteland.

Such a horrible quality image.

Why is there aliasing on the horizon?

[QUOTE=muffinmastah;34394555]You cannot see stars from space because of all the light reflecting off of Earth (or any other plant or moon you would like to substitute) You can only see stars at night on the Earth or maybe on the unlit side of the Earth from space because there is less light and the sun is blocked.[/QUOTE] So you mean that when we're on the Earth we get to enjoy the fabulous night sky dotted with the millions of stars but when we're out in space we just travel in black emptiness? That's depressing :(

[QUOTE=Legolas;34398219]So you mean that when we're on the Earth we get to enjoy the fabulous night sky dotted with the millions of stars but when we're out in space we just travel in black emptiness? That's depressing :([/QUOTE] No, when you are close or having your view towards a light source you can't see stars. Such as a planet lit up by the sun or the sun itself.

[QUOTE=farmatyr;34398036]Why is there aliasing on the horizon?[/QUOTE] Probably because this image was made from many others, which were rectangular in shape, so in order to make Earth properly spherical, the artist most likely just used a circle marquee tool and cut off the excess. That would at least explain the aliasing on the edges, not on the surface of the planet itself. Though that is probably a result of warping and such. Or it's a render :tinfoil:

[QUOTE=Lord of Ears;34394160]what time of year the photos were taken also probably contribute to the color[/QUOTE] You would know if you actually read the article. [sp]they were taken earlier this month[/sp]

The crown jewel of the solar system... to bad we are probably going to ruin it :/

[QUOTE=barttool;34392637]Of course the actual pcitures that take part of this one aren't like that, they're heavily doctored in order to make them look as accurate as it actually looks from space[/QUOTE] Yep, this isn't a real photo. It is a collection of real photos rendered onto a sphere. See pic below; there is aliasing on the edge of the earth; real photos don't have aliasing like this because CCDs sample average light for each pixel, not point sources. [URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/94/aliasing.jpg/][IMG]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7117/aliasing.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I can't help feeling the atmosphere looks a bit fake too; compare it with the original blue marble: [url]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg[/url] I remember hearing the analogy that, to scale, the Earth's atmosphere is about as thick as the layer of varnish on a standard classroom globe.

I can see my house from here!

Holy shit, my computer actually crashed...

[QUOTE=Legolas;34398219]So you mean that when we're on the Earth we get to enjoy the fabulous night sky dotted with the millions of stars but when we're out in space we just travel in black emptiness? That's depressing :([/QUOTE] If you are in earth orbit, you are in the shadow of the earth half the time, so half the time, you get an awesome view of the stars.

Unlike you fools, i took most interest in the water.

[QUOTE=muffinmastah;34394555]You cannot see stars from space because of all the light reflecting off of Earth (or any other plant or moon you would like to substitute) You can only see stars at night on the Earth or maybe on the unlit side of the Earth from space because there is less light and the sun is blocked.[/QUOTE] How come we can see stars from earth and the moon shines? And other pictures of earth from space have stars. Like Tolyzor posted.