The blue arc of Earth, photographed by the European Space Agency- Rosetta spacecraft:
ESA’s photo data:
Image of the Earth acquired with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 633 000 km on 12 November 2009 at 13:28 CET. The resolution is 12 km/pixel. The image is a part of a sequence of images taken every hour through one full rotation (24 hours). The movie will be published later.
The ESA has posted a hi-rez vers (206KB) of Earth from Rosetta. More info at ESA news, the Rosetta Blog, and this Wired article:
This gorgeous image of a blue arc of the Earth against the blackness of space was captured by the Rosetta spacecraft as it swung by our planet.
The European Space Agency mission is on its way to intercept the comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The ship will deploy a lander onto the comet’s surface, the first such attempt to be made.
To gather up the necessary energy to reach the comet out past Mars’ orbit, Rosetta needed three swings past Earth. This is its third and final flyby. It will reach the comet in early 2014.
Unlike the most famous pictures of Earth, which show most of the blue marble, this photo presents a planet in darkness, just the South Pole awash in light.
Rosetta: blog | site | timeline | ESA Ops
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