Our planet from space is an amazing sight, beautiful and inspiring. Let's hope that someday the day will come and more people will be able to see our house from space on their own. In the meantime, enjoy these ten breathtaking views of Earth from NASA. These are the most famous photographs of Earth from space.

1.Blue Marble

This amazing blue marble image is the most detailed color image of the entire Earth taken until 2002. Using a collection of satellite photographs, scientists and visualizers have stitched together the results of months of observation of the earth's surface, oceans, sea ​​ice and clouds into a true-color mosaic without any seams. This is one of the most common and famous photographs of the Earth.

2. Pale blue dot

This image of the Earth called ‘Pale Blue Dot’ is part of the very first “portrait” solar system taken by the Voyajer 1 spacecraft. The spacecraft took a total of 60 images of the solar system mosaic from more than 6 billion kilometers from Earth. From this distance, the Earth is a simple bright dot 0.12 pixels in size.

3. View of the Earth from the surface of the Moon

Following famous photo- an incredible image of the Earth, captured by Apollo 11 during the mission in July 1969. The first lunar mission launched on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The crew with 3 people on board consisted of Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin junior.

4. The first picture of the Earth and the Moon in one frame

This crescent-shaped picture of the Earth and the Moon is the first of its kind ever made by a spacecraft. Taken on September 18, 1977 by Voyager 1 at a distance of 11.66 million kilometers from Earth. Visible East Asia, Western Pacific Ocean and part of the Arctic.

5. Ground separator

These two images were taken during the Apollo 11 mission. They show the Earth Divider - a rounded line with a diameter that is approximately equal to the diameter Earth. The separator passes through any point on the surface of the Earth twice a day, once at sunrise and once at sunset, except in the polar regions, where it happens much less often.

6. Earth and Moon. View from Mars

This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk.

7. Earth from the dark side of the moon

Apollo 16 took this picture with a Hasselblad camera. Much of the terrain seen here is never visible from Earth as it is " dark side Moon. Apollo 16 launched on April 16, 1972 and landed on the moon on April 20. The mission was commanded by John Young.

8. Apollo 17 and the flag

One of the most famous photographs, which caused a lot of controversy regarding its origin. There is a widespread version that there was no landing on the moon, and the photo was taken in a production studio on Earth.

9. Earth on the lunar horizon

This photograph of Earth on the lunar horizon was taken during the Apollo 15 mission, which launched on July 26, 1971.

10. Blue planet

Earth from space. The most striking feature of our planet is water. In both liquid and frozen form, it covers 75% of the Earth's surface.

To continue, visit a selection of the most beautiful photos of the Earth from the Landsat satellite called "The Earth as Art".

October 24, 1946 is considered to be the birth date of astrophotography. On this day, the American V-2 automatic rocket took the first photograph of the Earth from a suborbital height of about 105 km.
A series of images of the Earth was made with a 35 mm film camera on black and white film, the quality of the image, by modern standards, was not the best.

The first astrophotography of the Earth from a height of 105 km.

In August 1959, the unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. It was equipped with photo elements that conveyed a picture of the earth's surface and atmosphere. It took almost 40 minutes to transmit the first photograph to Earth. The first orbital astrophotograph captured, illuminated by the sun, a section of the earth's surface - it was Mexico. Ship Explorer 6 rushed at a speed of over 32 thousand kilometers per hour, at an altitude of 28 thousand kilometers. This image is believed to be the first satellite photograph of Earth from space.

The first satellite photograph of the Earth, from an altitude of about 28,000 km.

First video of Earth taken in orbit

During a 25-hour space flight on August 6-7, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut German Stepanovich Titov made the first manual photo and video filming of the Earth from space.The filming was done with a Konvas camera. In the book of memoirs "My Blue Planet" (1977) G.S. Titov wrote that the shooting was successful:

I tried to remember everything that I was taught in the film training classes in order to film the view of our planet from the height of space flight, so that people could look at their home - the planet from the side. And the practice of filmmaking really came in handy for me. Having prepared the Konvas camera, I decided to determine the exposure. On Earth, I often did this by eye, but here I did not risk it, since an error in exposure could cost a lot. This is not a fishing scene. I took out a photo exposure meter, and ... it turned out that it can be safely removed back. The arrow of the sensitive element fell off under the influence of overloads and vibrations and occupied completely arbitrary positions under conditions of weightlessness. Appeared, as we say, the first introductory. There was nothing left but to estimate the illumination by eye and choose the aperture. And then I remembered the saying "there is no evil without good." Some of the films on Earth I got, frankly, not the best quality. But the practice "by eye" helped me out, and the film from space turned out to be successful.

Frame from German Titov's survey of the Earth.

The Blue Marble "blue marble" is one of the most famous pictures of planet earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the astronauts of the Apollo 17 spacecraft from a distance of about 29,000 km. The photo shows the illuminated Earth when the Sun was behind the astronauts. This astrophotography has been used in many movies to depict the Earth from space.

Far reaches of the solar system

Pale Blue Dot is an impressive astrophotograph of the planet Earth. This image, taken by the Voyager 1 probe from a distance of 5.9 billion km, shows the Earth against the background of the expanses of space. The very idea of ​​taking a picture was proposed by astronomer and popularizer of science Carl Sagan. Voyager had already completed its mission, and was flying towards the edges of the heliosphere, when in February 1990, NASA instructed the device to turn around and take pictures of the planets of our star system. One of the images, taken between February 14 and June 6, 1990, was an image of our planet, represented by the "pale blue dot" in the grainy image, is the farthest picture of the Earth.

The small dot in the middle of the brownish stripe on the right is the Earth from a distance of 6 billion kilometers.

"Earth Rising" - photograph of the earth, most likely taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 flyby of the moon. One of the most popular pictures of earth from space. The picture was taken on December 24, 1968.

Earthrise is one of the most famous photographs of our planet.

In February 2014, the Curiosity rover took pictures of Earth from the surface of Mars. The picture was taken on a Martian night. Our planet was visible at this time, even without approaching. Also, the cameras of the device managed to take a picture of the moon. It looked like a tiny speck of light next to the Earth. Recall that these are not the first images from the surface of Mars. Previously filmed by:

• NASA Spirit rover 2004
• Mars Global Surveyor 2003
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2007

A picture of the Earth from the surface of the "red" planet made by the Curiosity Mars rover

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1. "Blue marble" - the famous photograph of the Earth where it is visible in its entirety. The picture was taken on December 7, 1972, when Apollo 17 left Earth orbit and headed towards the Moon. The sun turned out opposite side, and the crew was able to capture this magnificent picture of the blue planet. The first complete photograph of the Earth.

2. The first photograph of the Earth from the Moon

3. The first color photograph of the rising Earth

When the program was launched in 1968"Apollo 8", her task was to make high resolution pictures of the lunar surface. But after completing a photo session on the far side of the moon, the crew of the spacecraft took this now-famous shot. Called "Earthrise", this image of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon reminds people of the fragility of their home.

4. The first photo of the Earth from Mars

This is the first picture of Earth from Mars. taken on May 8, 2003 by the camera of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. From a distance of 139 million kilometers, the Earth looks like an illuminated slice: only the western hemisphere is visible. From afar, the scale of the world in which we live is better understood.

5. The first panoramic photo from the surface of Mars

Shortly after the Viking 1 landed on Mars on July 20, 1976, his camera 2 took this first picture from the Martian surface. The panoramic (300 degree) photo shows the Cris Planitia region, a low plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Parts of the landing apparatus and stones ranging in size from 10 to 20 centimeters in diameter fell into the field of view of the camera.

6. The first photo of the Martian surface

July 20, 1976 the Viking-1 spacecraft took the first ever picture of the Martian surface. One of the spacecraft's three pillars is visible, covered in dust on the rock-strewn surface of Mars. Cameras attached to different places Viking-1 helped scientists determine distances on the red planet, remarkably similar to the earth's surface.

7. The first color photograph from Venus

Despite the temperature of 482 degrees and Atmosphere pressure, exceeding the earth by 92 times, on March 1, 1982, the Soviet Venera-13 apparatus was able to take the first color photographs of the desert surface of Venus. In addition to the surface, the photograph shows zigzag parts of the descent vehicle. The 170-degree panoramic camera was fitted with blue, green, and red filters.

8. The first photo from Titan

As seen in this composition, the surface Saturn's moon is an almost flat plain, strewn with stones the size of an orange. For comparison, here is a picture from the surface of the moon. On January 14, 2005, as part of the Cassini-Huygens mission (a joint US-ESA project), 1,100 images were taken during landing on Titan.

9. The first photo of an exoplanet

In this image taken by the European Southern Observatory, the first known exoplanet (planet outside the solar system) is captured. The red sphere at the bottom of the image is a young planet, similar in physical properties to Jupiter. It orbits a brown dwarf - dim dying star, whose mass is 42 times less than the sun. This is a picture taken with an infrared camera from a distance of about 230 light years.

10. The first photo of the Sun

Using a new one for its time daguerreotype technology, on April 2, 1845, French scientists Louis Fizeau and Leon Foucault took the first successful photograph of the Sun. The original image (at 1/60) was 12 centimeters in diameter and showed a few sunspots. You can see them in this reproduction.

11. Snapshot of the deepest space

800x exposure for 400 revolutions of the telescope Hubble in orbit (September 2003 to January 2004) produced this galaxy-filled image of deep space. Almost 10,000 galaxies are visible in the image taken by the modern camera for surveys as part of the Ultra Deep Field program Hubble telescope". Scientists say it's like looking at the sky for a long time through a 2.4-meter straw. So you get a piece of deep space.

12. Imprint on the Moon

13. The first photos from the surface of another planet

From June to October 1975 the Soviet space probe "Venera-9" photographed Venus. It became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet and land on its surface. Venera 9 consisted of a lander and orbiters: they separated in orbit. The 2,300-kilogram orbiter kept in touch and photographed the planet in ultraviolet rays. And the descent capsule entered the atmosphere of the planet and descended to the surface with the help of several parachutes. A special panoramic photometer aboard the probe took these 180-degree panoramic photographs of the surface of Venus.

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You and I are very lucky as astronauts on the International Space Station continue to surprise us with new photos of our beautiful planet.

The chance to observe the Earth from space falls to very few lucky ones. So, we are grateful to the astronauts, NASA and the European Space Agency from the bottom of our hearts, and in case any of them are reading this - we once again say our sincere “thank you” to you! After all, before we could observe such views only in films created at Hollywood film studios. But these photos are real.

1. Maldives.

“We will open the sunny side of life to you” - this is the slogan of tourists lured by tour operators to the Maldives. Well, from the window of the International space station they really look amazing. Well, order a cocktail with fruit slices and an umbrella in a glass, and go to the hammock to just relax while watching the amazing sunset?

2. Pacific Ocean, Hawaii.

Aloha! We are approaching the Hawaiian Islands. The big island is visible very clearly. Kilauea is known as "the world's only road volcano". Now he produces 250-650 thousand yards of lava per day. This amount is enough to fill a two-lane highway 32 km long.

3. Southern Lights, New Zealand.

Don't you think that the southern lights in this photo resemble laser show- surprising and bewitching?

4. night view on the east coast of Spain.

In front of you is the east coast of Spain at night, the Balearic Sea looks dark spot. At the top left is the island of Mallorca. Looking at night Barcelona, ​​you remember that for someone one of cherished desires- go to this city for the Barcelona match against Real Madrid.

5. Volcano Mannam, Papua New Guinea.

Mannam, also known as the "Great Volcano", is only 10 km in diameter. Mannam is a stratovolcano formed from changing layers of ash, lava and rock from previous eruptions. This is one of the most active active volcanoes Papua New Guinea, whose eruptions frequently cause loss of life, including 13 deaths in December 1996 and four more in March 2007. In general, this photo resembles a great scenery for some movie like Jurassic Park or King Kong.

6. International Space Station.

The ISS is located over the east coast of Argentina over the Gulf of San Matias. Looking at these photos, you can feel dizzy. Just imagine that you are up there, on board the International Space Station, looking at our planet upside down... - how is your vestibular apparatus?

7. Beaver Lake in Arkansas, USA.

Beaver Lake is a man-made body of water in the Ozark Mountains, located in northwest Arkansas, where the White River was born. Sometimes artificial reservoirs are wiped off the face of the earth Forest fires, but humanity continues to change the planet with amazing persistence.

8. East coast of the USA and the last ray of light on the horizon.

The US East Coast, New York and Long Island are at the bottom left. Would you like to see this panorama with your own eyes? What was the matter? Only $20 million...

9. Earth and stars.

So this is what it looks like Milky Way when the light of night cities does not overshadow it. I would like to quote Dr. McCoy from the world famous "Star Trek": "In this galaxy there is mathematical probability the presence of three million planets similar in type to the Earth. And there are three million million galaxies in the universe like this one. And they probably have at least one version of ourselves.”

10. Night clouds over Long Beach, California.

This is truly an amazing place - Long Beach. The place where you can meet "Queen Mary" and "Aquarium Pacific Ocean". But it is best to go on a trip by sea, where you can watch friendly gray whales. During migration, they swim up to the very shore.

11. Great Britain and Ireland at night.

These regions gave the world the authors of "Romeo and Juliet" (William Shakespeare), "Pride and Prejudice" (Jane Austen), "Dracula" (Bram Stoker) and "Harry Potter" (J. K. Rowling). The British Isles, where a royal wedding is now eagerly awaited, is simply amazing.

12. Launch of an automatic interorbital transport vehicle.
Arianespace and ESA launched an interorbital vehicle to the International Space Station. I wonder how far they were from each other?

13. Solar panels of the International Space Station.
The ISS solar panels are simply amazing. When the sun hides behind the horizon, the last sunlight colors solar panel in amazing colors.

14. French Riviera at night.
The Cote d'Azur is not only super-expensive and super-popular, but also super-beauty, which is only emphasized by the reflection of the moon in the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps this is the only place that can compare with southern California.

15. Bright lights of night Barcelona.

16. Supermoon.
On March 19, the inhabitants of the planet Earth could observe the supermoon - a phenomenon during which full moon approached our planet as close as possible. The moon, photographed from the International Space Station, is simply beautiful, and in this photo it looks even a little scary.

17. Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Cape Cod, simply referred to locally as the Cape, is an island and headland in eastern Massachusetts. The sun is reflected in the water Atlantic Ocean, turning it into living gold, shading the amazing cape.

18. Moscow at night
Moscow, a city of 11 million people, is not only the capital of Russia, but also the center of European culture. The Russians are a passionate, proud, sexy and intelligent people, but at the same time refined, intelligent, and with a wonderful sense of humor. And in this photograph, we see the very heart of this superpower. And the heart is just incredibly beautiful.

20. Sicily, Italy
Sicily is considered the birthplace of the mafia thanks to the Godfather film series. But in fact, it is a beautiful and absolutely magical island, full of passionate people who love music and food, and live with desperate courage in the shadow of the ancient volcano Etna. In this picture it is difficult to make out what exactly is reflected from the Mediterranean Sea - sunlight or moonlight. Either way, the photo is amazing.

21. Lake Kadisiya on the Euphrates River, owes its birth to the Hadith Dam. From space, it looks like a Chinese dragon ready to attack. There are many amazing places in Iraq, which, unfortunately, cannot be reached due to the ongoing military conflict that has been going on for many years. Perhaps someday we will be able to visit there and other historical places.

22. Atoll, shaped like a heart, east of the Solomon Islands.
This atoll is especially loved by astronauts on the International Space Station. This picture they sent to Earth on Valentine's Day. An atoll is a coral island that partially or completely encloses a lagoon. If you look closely, you can understand that in fact this atoll is the top of an old volcano.

23. San Quentin Glacier, Chile.
The San Quentin Glacier is the largest glacier in Chile. Like many glaciers around the world, in the twentieth century, San Quentin began to gradually decrease in size and lose mass. What caused this: natural natural factors or the consequences of human actions? It's hard to say, it's easier to enjoy the beauty of the amazing glacier.

24. Crete, Greece and Turkey
A beautiful clear photo of Hellas (Greece), Turkey and the island of Crete. Crete has a rich mythology associated mainly with the Greek gods, but also with the Minoan civilization. Crete in Greek mythology is considered the birthplace of the god Zeus. Also here is the famous labyrinth of Knossos.

25. River Nile
The Nile is the longest river in the world (6650 km), located in North Africa. At the bottom of the picture you can see the place where the Blue Nile merges with the White Nile.

26. Buenos Aires, Argentina, La Plata
La Plata is an estuary, a flooded mouth of a river, formed at the confluence of the Uruguay and Parana rivers on the border of Argentina and Uruguay. The photo resembles a picture with a silvery vein coming from a large heart on the left.

27. Cyclone Diana off the eastern coast of Australia
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of ​​closed circular motion that rotates in the same direction as the Earth. We've seen photos of cyclones and hurricanes before, but if you look closely, you can see the planet below in this photo. Look at the center of the "eye".

28. Desert Somalia.
This amazing red "coral" north of Bakaadwein, west of Calabadhlmag is the Somali desert. Strange feeling, isn't it? - it seems as if the earth itself is bleeding. Amazing photo.

29. national park Chaco in Paraguay.
Chaco is a plain whose area is approximately one million square kilometers. It covers parts of Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. Clouds at the edges turn the planet below into scales huge lizard. Maybe Godzilla is lurking out there somewhere?

30. Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.
Lake Argentino is located in the Santa Cruz province of Patagonia. It is the largest lake in Argentina with an area of ​​1466 square kilometers. But, if you look closely, you can see, as it were, the outlines of the body. It seems as if someone fell from the sky and left a dent.

31. Santiago, Cape Verde.
Cape Verde is located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, 570 km from the coast West Africa, an archipelago of 10 islands. It has the word "green" in its name, but despite this, the area here is a little dry. Santiago is the largest island in the archipelago and seems a bit flat in the southeast. The transcontinental slave trade made the city of Cidade Velha, located here, the second richest city in the Portuguese kingdom.

For free observation of the Earth's surface and viewing satellite images online, you can use several applications. In Russia, two of them are most popular: Google Maps and Yandex Maps. Both services boast good quality high-resolution satellite images of most countries.

Yandex maps is an online application from Russian developers, so the cities of Russia are more accurately worked out in it. It has a built-in functionality for viewing traffic congestion data (large settlements), demographic and geodata. In maps from Google, no less high-quality satellite images of the territory of the Russian Federation, but data on land plots and traffic are only available for the USA.

Watch a map of Planet Earth from a satellite online

Below you can see the Google map embedded on the site. For more stable operation of the plugin, we recommend using the Google Chrome browser. If you see an error message, then update the specified plugin, then reload the page.

Watch Google Earth from satellite, in real time online:

Another advantage of Google Maps is the presence of a client application for working with satellite images. This means that access to the service can be obtained not only through a browser, but also through a previously downloaded program. It has much more opportunities for viewing and studying satellite images, working with a three-dimensional virtual globe.

Google 3D satellite map (downloadable app, not online version) allows you to:

• use a quick search for the desired objects by name or coordinates;
• take screenshots and record videos High Quality;
• work offline (preliminary synchronization via the Internet is required);
• use a flight simulator for more convenient movement between objects;
• save "favorite places" for quick movement between them;
• view not only the Earth's surface, but also images of other celestial bodies (Mars, the Moon, etc.).

work with satellite google maps through a client application or browser. On the official page of the program, a plugin is available that allows you to use interactive map on any web site. It is enough to embed its address in the program code of the site. For display, you can select both the entire surface and a specific area (you will have to enter the coordinates). Management - using a computer mouse and keyboard (ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom, cursor to move) or using the icons indicated on the map ("plus" - zoom in, "minus" - zoom out, move with the cursor).

The Google Earth real-time service allows you to work with several types of maps, each of which reflects certain data on satellite images. It is convenient to switch between them “without losing progress” (the program remembers where you “were”). Available view modes:

• satellite landscape map ( geographic features, peculiarities Earth's surface);
• physical map(detailed satellite images of the surface, cities, streets, their names);
• schematic geographic map for more precise study surface pictures.

A satellite image is automatically uploaded at the point of approach, so a stable Internet connection is required to work. For Google Earth to work offline, you need to download an application for Windows or another operating system. Its operation also requires the Internet, but only for the first launch, after which the program synchronizes all the necessary data (satellite images of the surface, 3D models of buildings, names of geographical and other objects), after which it will be possible to work with the received data without direct access to the Internet.