The Blue Marble

The Blue Marble is one of the most famous photographs in human history.

It provides a stunning view of our home planet from the vastness of space. This specific image is highly significant because it captures Earth as a single, beautiful object. It has become a powerful symbol for the environmental movement. Many people use it to represent the fragility and isolation of our world. It reminds us that Earth is a small, vulnerable place in a massive universe.

To capture this image, an astronaut used specialized equipment during a space mission. The photographer used a 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera. This camera was equipped with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens. The photo was taken on December 7, 1972. At that time, the Apollo 17 spacecraft was traveling toward the Moon. The mission was about five hours and six minutes past its launch. The crew had left their parking orbit around Earth about one hour and 54 minutes earlier. To the astronauts, the Earth appeared small, much like a glass marble.

The photograph shows a wide variety of geographical features and weather patterns. Because of the spacecraft's specific trajectory, it was the first time the South Pole ice cap was photographed. The image shows the Mediterranean Sea and the coastline of Africa. You can also see Madagascar and most of the Indian Ocean. A cyclone known as the Shapyro–Keyser is visible near the center. Another storm, Cyclone Sixteen (16B), appears in the upper right. This storm had recently caused high winds and flooding in Tamil Nadu. The South Asian mainland and Australia appear on the eastern limb.

While NASA often credits entire crews for mission photos, the identity of this photographer is a subject of study. The Apollo 17 crew included Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt. All three members took photographs using the onboard Hasselblad. However, evidence examined by researcher Eric Hartwell suggests that Harrison Schmitt was the one who took this specific shot. This was a historic moment because Apollo 17 was the final crewed mission to the Moon. No human has since traveled far enough from Earth to take a similar whole-Earth photograph.

Before this photo, people had seen images of Earth from satellites. For example, the ATS-3 satellite released images as early as 1967. In 1968, Stewart Brand used a satellite image for his Whole Earth Catalog. Brand had campaigned to see the entire Earth from space. He even sold buttons for 25 cents asking why such a photo did not exist yet. The 1972 Blue Marble photograph arrived during a surge of environmental activism. It helped people visualize the planet as a single, interconnected system.

Today, the term "Blue Marble" is used for many different types of Earth imagery. Since it is impossible to capture the entire globe perfectly in one shot, scientists create composites. A composite is a single image made by combining many different photographs. In 2012, NASA released a series of high-resolution Blue Marble images. These were created by looking through many satellite pictures to find cloudless areas. These 2012 images were made from data taken by the Suomi NPP satellite. This satellite uses a tool called the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

Another fascinating version of these images is called the "Black Marble." These images show the Earth at night to highlight human activity. They use data from the Suomi NPP satellite to map things that glow. This includes city lights, gas flares, auroras, and wildfires. The Black Marble images help scientists study how humans use the planet's resources. They can also help find the best places for astronomical observatories. By looking at the light from space, we can see the patterns of our global civilization.

Modern technology continues to provide new views of our world. In 2015, the DSCOVR satellite released a new Blue Marble photograph. This satellite was launched in February 2015 to observe solar weather and Earth. It provides a nearly continuous view of the sunlit side of our planet. The DSCOVR images are color-corrected to look like what a human eye would see. This allows us to see the Western Hemisphere with great clarity. These new images represent a continuation of the journey that began with Apollo 17.