• NASA Johnson Space Center
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    The iconic blue marble photograph of the Earth was taken on December 7, 1972. As the Apollo 17 crew traveled toward the moon, one of the three astronauts onboard shot the first full view of the planet. 

  • Norman Kuring, NASA/GSFC/Suomi NPP
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    Using natural-color images from the Suomi-NPP satellite, a NASA scientist created this view of Earth showing the Arctic and high latitudes. Because the satellite does not see the full disc at one time, the image was compiled from 15 satellite passes made on May 26, 2012.

  • Norman Kuring, NASA GSFC
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    Over a period of six orbits on Feb. 3, 2012, the Suomi NPP satellite gathered the images used for this synthesized view of Earth, showing North Africa and southwestern Europe.

  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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    Hurricane Linda churns in the Eastern Pacific in this digital image from April 2000. This composite view was generated by researchers in the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center using data from three different Earth-observing satellite instruments.

    The presence of the Moon in this upper left is an artistic addition. The lunar image was collected by GOES in September 1994, and has been magnified to about twice its relative size.

  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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    In February 2002, using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice and clouds into a seamless mosaic of Earth. This view shows the eastern hemisphere.

  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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    In February 2002, using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice and clouds into a seamless mosaic of Earth. This view shows the western hemisphere.

  • NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
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    This composite uses a number of images of the Earth's surface taken by instruments onboard the Suomi NPP satellite on Jan. 4, 2012.

  • NASA
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    Most of the images used to created this Blue Marble view was collected by the MODIS tool onboard NASA's Terra satellite between June and September 2001.

  • NASA Earth Observatory
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    In 2004, NASA created a series of images of Earth called Blue Marble: Next Generation. Each month, scientists and visualizers put together satellite data from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites to make composite images of the planet without cloud coverage. These views showcased the seasonal changes to land surfaces over the course of one year. See the animation of the full year here.

  • NASA
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    Next: Mind-Blowing New Photos from Space

    Using data gathered by NASA's Terra satellite, scientists and data visualizers stitched together a full year's worth of monthly observations of the land surface, coastal oceans, sea ice and clouds into a seamless, photo-like mosaic of Earth in 2004. See the full animation here.