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NASA scientists created this companion image to the wildly popular "Blue Marble" picture released last week. This image combines data acquired during six orbits by the Suomi NPP satellite to produce a view of the Eastern Hemisphere. The new "Blue Marble" pictures were taken using an instrument aboard Suomi NPP, known as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. The four vertical lines of "haze" seen in this image are caused by the reflection of sunlight off the ocean.
A week after NASA released an updated version of its "Blue Marble" photo, the picture of our planet's Western Hemisphere has become such a hit that the space agency is coming out with a sequel.
Today researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center unveiled the Eastern Hemisphere "Blue Marble 2012," assembled from imagery that was collected by the Suomi NPP climate-monitoring satellite during six orbits on Jan. 23. Both views of the Marble take advantage of the spacecraft's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS.
You're looking at the Eastern Hemisphere as if you were seeing it in space from a distance of 7,918 miles (12,742 kilometers). NASA says the four vertical lines of "haze" visible in this image are due to the reflection of sunlight off the ocean during Suomi NPP's orbital passes.
NASA spokeswoman Rebecca Roth said the folks at Goddard were tickled to find out that last week's "Blue Marble" picture was so quick to go viral on the space center's Flickr site. "We were curious about its popularity on Flickr compared to other images, and came across a number of articles on the 'Situation Room' photo ... and were surprised at our findings," she wrote in an email.
Last year, TechCrunch reported that the "Situation Room" photo, which shows Obama administration officials gathered at the White House during the operation to hunt down Osama bin Laden, ranked as one of the most widely seen photos on Flickr — with 1.6 million views recorded during the first 38 hours it was on the site.
Roth checked with Flickr's Zack Sheppard, and today she quoted him as saying that "the Western Hemisphere Blue Marble 2012 image has rocketed up to over 3.1 million views, making it one of the all-time most viewed images on the site after only one week."
It's always dicey to make claims about "first," "most" or "best," but Roth told me that "Blue Marble 2012" is getting far more views than the classic 2002 edition of the Blue Marble, which is perhaps best known nowadays as one of the default photos on iPhones. Right now, the Goddard hit parade is:
- Blue Marble 2012 West at 3.2 million views.
- "Bye Bye Comet" video at 681,000.
- 2002 Blue Marble East at 551,000.
- 2002 Blue Marble West at 391,000.
- Earth from Mars (You Are Here) at 311,164.
It shouldn't be long before 2012's Blue Marble East starts rising on the charts.
How the Marble was made
Suomi NPP, which was launched last October, isn't exactly designed to snap beauty shots of Earth. "NPP" stands for National Polar-orbiting Partnership, and reflects the fact that the $1.5 billion mission is a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense. The minivan-sized weather satellite was christened Suomi just last week as a tribute to University of Wisconsin's Verner Suomi (1915-1995), who is considered the "father of weather satellite systems."
The next-generation spacecraft flies in a 512-mile-high polar orbit to conduct climate studies at the same time it's collecting weather data. So if the satellite is only 512 miles above the surface, how can it produce a picture that looks as if it's coming from deep space? NASA scientist Norman Kuring artfully combined six sets of data from Suomi's orbital passes to produce the "Blue Marble"views.
NASA / NOAA
This graphic shows how scientists combine imagery collected by the Suomi NPP satellite during multiple orbital passes to produce a Blue Marble view of Earth.
Here's how NASA explains the perspective today in a "behind the scenes" feature:
"Using a basketball you can get a good idea of how far away the Suomi NPP satellite is from Earth. Take a basketball that has a diameter of 10 inches (about 25 centimeters) and say that's 'Earth.' (For the record, Earth has a diameter of about 7,926 miles, or about 12,756 kilometers).
"So to get the same view of Earth as the VIIRS instrument aboard the Suomi NPP satellite, hold the basketball five-eighth of an inch (about one-and-a-half centimeters) away from your face.
"The actual swath width of the Earth's surface covered by each pass of VIIRS as the satellite orbits the Earth is about 1,865 miles (about 3,001 kilometers). On the basketball that's about two and one-third inches (about six centimeters)."
More views of Earth from space:
- From the moon to the earth
- Japanese moon probe updates Earthrise
- Comet probe takes snapshots of Earth
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Beautiful from any vantage point!
You gotta love our planet!
Allen, any chance of getting a "North Pole" and "South Pole" view as well?
I think that's theoretically possible, Tony, will have to check into that... :-)
I for one would LOVE to see views from several different angles. Blue Marble 2012 West appears to be centered over 90*W, 23*N; East over 90*E, 23*S. i.e., centered on the tropic lines north-south wise. This is arbitrary.
Satellites in polar low-Earth orbits like Suomi get a view of the entire planet at least once a day. They gather all the necessary data anyway (and very repeatedly), so why not make more images of different parts of the world. Just a bunch of number crunching to get the compsite images.
Tony, the diagram of how they made the image out of data from multiple passes proves all by itself that they can give us a view of anywhere on the planet. In fact, because there would be so much overlapping for the polar images, they would be of a higer resolution than other areas due to dithering.
NASA, could you please produce at least four Blue Marble images, one from each quadrant? Maybe even sixteen, so that every part of Earth can "face the camera" directly? A set for each season would be nice too.
Uh ... that's the OLD Photo. What's the new one?
There is a link to the new one in the article.
The picture at the top of the item is the Blue Marble East photo released this week, but I also link to Blue Marble West 2012, as well as the Blue Marble views from 2002. I hope I've eased your mind on that point, Donnie...
Even though the haze has a natural explaination, the immediate reaction is still to think pollution.
biefi - That might not be oil. I'm just sayin...........
nice
Holder is on the stand for Fast and Furious all day during Congress testamonial hearings and not one mention here on MSNBC.....You guys are the laughting stock of Journalism......
MSNBC will protect Obama and Holder at all costs. Including the lives of Americans.
Get psychiatric help.
Um, Danno?
"testAmonial" and "laughTing" all in 25 words or less?
Dude, STAY IN SCHOOL!
Articles this morning about Holder,,, you snooze, you lose.
fox picked their side so, i guess msnbc had no choice but to take the other side. just like politics, if one says up the other says down, no progresss just meaningless noise from both sides
Any alien, from any galaxy would be in awe orbiting our planet.
Certainly we have been visited.
Unless, of course, they're from an even more awesome marble where unicorns grow from trees, inkjets print out living butterflies, and thunderstorms rain down elven-Italian women.
The Earth doesn't do that? I should probably up my meds.
It's too bad they can't do something about the clouds...they cover a good portion of the image. Still neat though.
Oh no they didn't use a super wide camera to take the picture(s)... all kidding aside I'd love to get a photo quality image of that for my wall.
yet another reason why I want to work at S&IS in El Segundo
Our planet is so beautiful.......
North America looks a lot less green than it does in the 2002 image.
If this image is from 2012, its winter in the northern hemisphere.
Seeing this impressive photograph reminds me of the words Carl Sagan wrote in Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, when he contemplated our home as seen from the eye of the Voyager 1 spacecraft at the outer edge of our solar system:
carl sagan was the @!$%#. RIP
I always tear up a bit when I read something so profound from Sagan. He truly was a visionary in every respect of the word.
It's wonderful photo. I can't help but wonder if there is any life on that plant.
Or more important...intelligent life.
Al, it never ceases to amaze me how you can consistently pump out so much detailed news from such a wide range of disciplines and sources in such a short time, while keeping it as digestible as possible to a readership as diverse as the Internet.
Are you at least gonna take a few hours off to watch the GIANTS win another Super Bowl on Sunday? (You had to be a Giants fan during your time at Columbia.)
Even if you're not a football fan, Madonna's supposed to be wearing two halves of a football (you know, instead of those ridiculous pointed cones?) held in place by Bret Favre's jock. Seriously. Would I make something like that up?
=o)
The pictures from 2002 look more realistic in size. These new ones make the continents look like they engulf one whole side of the world. The 2012 picture of North America looks way to off scale to its actual size. Same with the 2012 of Africa and Asia.
That may be because of the point of view for these pictures, which are off the equator. Interesting point.
The "haze" looks like aluminum particles that come from the Chemtrails. Not a reflection from the ocean.
How dumb do they think we the people are?
Have ever heard anything so bizzare?
You sir, are number one.
Jeff
Your chemtrails are contrails from high flying aircraft. They have been with us since aircraft have been flying in the cold upper atmosphere. Apparently you are the #1 on their list.
Hey Starbuck, keep up the denials. They've got you right where they want you. You're #1 on their list of gullible people.
starbuck knows what he's talking about. must have been in the air force or knows his aircraft.
The Earth: A wonderful creation, by a wonderful Creator.
The "Creator" should make a camera that takes a properly proportioned picture. Last time I checked Saudi Arabia wasn't near the Arctic Circle.
It's a computer-generated simulation of what the Earth would look like from a certain distance above the surface, so it doesn't really show a full hemisphere.
still a good image, but why is most of the planet brown. i could have sworn there used to be way more trees than that, hopefully this is just winter pics and that explains the brown everywhere, otherwise we need to make a before and after set if pics to make a point.
Amazing to behold. And thank God (allah?) that there is one man smart enough to lord over the entire planet, micromanaging the activities and outcomes of all the little people: The great and powerful Grand Mufti Barack Hussein Obozo
Not to worry as he will be doing pro bono legal work as a community organizer to resurrect ACORN after 2012.
Both of you forget your medications this morning?
Tad and Pod are right on with there pronunciation of the future. And you don't want to give any credit for this beautiful planet to allah, he wanted to tear it down and rip it up, and have you living in the street. Just like his brothers Nobama, Harry Reid and sister Nancy Pelosi!!
If this were a picture of a glass of water, you guys would still come in and spout off political BS wouldn't you? Take it to a political forum and be in your own element of know-it-alls-but-not-really.
uhh...and sweaver? learn the difference between their, there and they're before you post, PLEASE.
They're very ignorant over there because of their intelligence.
Thank you Alexis for that post. I just love seeing the awesome beauty God has given us. And yes, there is a purpous for our lives.
And a dolphin!
Alexin, sorry for the misspellings, I was packing a lunch. Ya'll have a nice day!
It's...breathtaking.
Such a beautiful world... it's too bad we're destroying it.
i agree with you!!!!
Please ignore the comment from Just the facts. You didn't control the fact you were born, and who knows; maybe you've done more things to help than he/she has done.
Na, chemtrails look it up.
Its no wonder all of the Middle East & northern Africa are fighting so much. There aren't any green forests left...brown, brown, BROWN! Gotta smell the trees to savor life. I feel kinda (sorta) sorry for them all.