Pictures from home

Every human, every plant, every animal, everything we have ever known has come from one place: Earth. We argue over borders, fight over territory, and pollute the land, soil, water, and air. It is our only home. We think of it as limitless, with endless resources available for us. It is not. Earth is a lovely planet, but it is finite and fragile. To help illustrate this I have collected a series of images of our home -- from near to far. Each image has a link back to its source if you want more information on the picture.

The first image was taken from orbit by a satellite. What you are looking at is the ocean in the vicinity of the Bahamas. The Web site is "Earth As Art".

This next picture was also taken from Earth orbit by the crew of the International Space Station. Here you can see some of the curve of the planet.
Now we've moved out of Earth orbit. This picture was taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts during one of their orbits of the moon. What a lovely, blue world.
We continue to move out in space away from Earth. This image was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. For more information about this image you can also read this article from the National Geographic News. The image you see here has been greatly enlarged - go to the Mars Global Surveyor link to see the actual image.
This last picture is part of the first family photo ever taken of the planets of our solar system. You are looking at home from 6.4 billion kilometers away. Earth is a pale, blue dot less than the size of a pixel. Click on the image to view the whole family.