Onelargeprawn
The Blue Marble has never looked so pretty as it does in these images. Shared on Imgur, the images show relief maps of continents around the world, wonderfully illuminated by pockets of light.
South Africa is pictured too, but a local has concerns about the validity of the image.
This gorgeous picture of South Africa is not real. We don't have electricity. pic.twitter.com/X7cNTrBiff
— Jerm (@mynameisjerm) August 31, 2015
Have a look at 10 of our favourite images of the Earth at Night.
On December 7th in 1972, far far above our heads, Apollo 17 blasted off from the Earth on its way to the Moon. About five hours into the journey, the spaceship was 45,000 kilometres away and at the point where it was facing the Earth, the astronauts onboard took photos of our planet. One of those photos (AS17-148-22727) which showed a fully-illuminated Earth looked like a glass marble to the astronauts, and is famously called The Blue Marble.
NASA has continued The Blue Marble series with similar photos in 2000, 2002, 2007, 2010, and the two most recent images date from just a few days ago. The initial image was captured by the Earth-observing satellite Suomi NPP and focussed on North and Central America. Due to popular demand NASA released a second image, this time displaying Africa, Saudi Arabia, and India to the east. Have a look at these two amazing images after the jump.