The planet Earth is amazing and beautiful. Perhaps soon, with the development of space tourism, the dream of many people to see our planet from space will come true. And now you can admire the breathtaking magnificent panoramas of the Earth only in photographs.
What does Earth really look like from space? Does it glow in the same way as the moon when we look at it? Answers to these and other questions can be found in this article.
Some general information about the Earth
Earth is the fifth largest planet in the solar system. For 98% it consists of such chemical elements as oxygen, sulfur, hydrogen, iron, aluminum, silicon, calcium, hydrogen, magnesium and nickel. The remaining chemical elements make up only 2%. Since ancient times, people have argued about how this planet looks from the outside. As a result, today it is known for sure that its shape is similar to an oblate ellipsoid. Its area is 12,756 square kilometers, the circumference is 40,000 km. Due to the rotation of the planet, a bulge is created around the equator, sothe equatorial diameter is 43 kilometers larger than the polar one.
The Earth rotates around its axis in 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds, and the period of travel in orbit is just over 365 days.
The main difference between planet Earth and other celestial spheres is the abundance of water. More than half (3/4) of the Earth's surface is covered with gray glaciers and blue endless waters.
What does planet Earth look like from space?
The view of the planet from space is similar to the view of the moon. The earth also glows, only it has a beautiful blue hue, similar to the color of precious stones - amethyst or sapphire. In its arsenal, the Earth has many other colors - red, green, orange and purple, depending on the phase of its position - the period of sunset or sunrise, etc.
The main color is blue-blue, as the area of the water surface on Earth is five times larger than the land area. Among other things, from space you can see the continents that have green or brown hues, curls of white and blue - clouds floating above the surface of the Earth. At night, bright luminous dots are visible from space, covering the territory of America, Europe, Russia, Japan and South Africa. These are the most industrialized regions, and the brightest points are observed in the area of large metropolitan areas.
Modern man saw the Earth from the side thanks to photos taken from near-Earth orbit. Using a miracle technique, people can see how the Earth really looks from space.
Something about the Earth's satellite
In astronomical science satellite of the Earthis a cosmic body that revolves around the planet and is held by the force of its attraction.
The only satellite of the Earth is the Moon, located at a distance of 384.4 kilometers from it. This is a fairly large satellite, ranking fifth among all space satellites in the solar system.
Some interesting facts about the Earth and its pictures
What does Earth look like from space? She is wonderful! And one can envy the astronauts who saw such splendor with their own eyes. There are many interesting facts connected with this planet. Below are some of them:
- According to astrologers, interplanetary dust that annually reaches the Earth's surface, in its mass is 30 thousand tons. How is it formed? Asteroids that wander in the solar system, colliding with each other, create dust and separate fragments, which then approach the Earth. More often they crash into the atmosphere and burn up. It is because of this that people see such a thing as shooting stars.
- In winter (February-January), the rate of rotation of the Earth slows down. And it gets slower every year. The reasons for this phenomenon are not yet known to anyone, but there are some assumptions that this is due to the shift of the earth's poles.
- More than 80% of the Earth's surface is of volcanic origin.
- What did the Earth look like from space before? The first photo of the Earth (from a distance of 105 km) was taken from a V-2 rocket. This happened in October 1946 (USA, New Mexico). Earth and thenlooked beautiful.
- Yuri Gagarin did not take pictures in his great historical flight. He was only able to describe the miracles he saw and broadcast on the radio. In this regard, astronaut Alan Shepard (USA) became the first space photographer. He made his first flight from Cape Canaveral on May 5, 1961.
- German Titov in August 1961 became the second person to reach the Earth's orbit and the second space photographer in the world. In addition, even today he has the title of the youngest cosmonaut who got into space. At that time, he was only one month away from 26 years old.
- The very first image of the Earth in color was made in August 1967 (satellite DODGE).
What does Earth look like from space? A review of the best space shots below will showcase the splendor and uniqueness of the planet.
First shot of two planets in one frame
This frame is unexpected for human perception. These are two luminous crescents (Earth and Moon) against a completely black background of the Universe.
On the crescent of the Earth, which has a bluish tint, the contours of East Asia, the western Pacific Ocean and areas of the Arctic, which are white, are visible. The picture was taken in the autumn of 1977 (interplanetary apparatus Voyager 1). In this photo, the planet Earth is captured from a distance of more than 11 million kilometers.
Blue Marble
Fairly famous and widely circulated until 2002, this photo of the Earth perfectly demonstrates what the Earth looks like from space. The appearance of this picture was the result of a long work. Fromcuts of numerous frames made as a result of many months of research (the movement of the oceans, drifting ice, clouds), scientists have made a unique mosaic in color.
"Blue marble" is now recognized and considered a common heritage. This is the most detailed and detailed image of the globe.
View of the Earth from the Moon
One of the world's most famous photos is a view of the Earth, which was taken by the crew of Apollo 11 (USA) during the historic mission - landing in 1969 on the moon.
Three astronauts, led by Neil Armstrong, successfully landed on the surface of the moon and returned home safely after taking this legendary photo.
Pale Blue Dot
This famous image was taken from a record distance (approximately 6 billion km) using the Voyajer 1 space probe. The spacecraft was able to transmit approximately 60 frames to NASA from the vast depths of the solar system, including the "Pale Blue Dot". In this photo, the globe looks like a tiny bluish speck of dust (0.12 pixels) located on a brown stripe.
This is the very first portrait of the Earth against the backdrop of endless outer space. The photo is a demonstration of what the Earth looks like in space from the farthest depths of the universe.
Earth Terminator
Apollo 11 crew took two more famous shots showing the Terminator as a rounded lineEarth. This is the name of the light division line, which separates the light (illuminated) part of the celestial body from the dark (unlit), enveloping the planet in a circle twice a day - at sunrise and sunset.
A similar phenomenon is very rare at the South and North Poles.
Earth from Mars and from the dark side of the Moon
It is thanks to this photograph taken from another planet that humanity was able to see what the Earth looks like from another planet. From the surface of Mars, it appears as a disk that shimmers above the horizon.
The image below, taken with Hasselblad (Swedish equipment), captures the first view of the moon from the far side. This happened in 1972, when the crew of Apollo 16 (expedition commander - John Young) descended to the dark side of the Earth's satellite.
What does a flat earth look like from space?
Surprisingly, even today, in the age of the hadron collider, there are people who believe that the planet Earth is flat. They absolutely do not believe the pictures from satellites and believe that NASA is a bunch of pseudoscientists and charlatans. In November 2017, 61-year-old Michael Hughes (an American activist) moved from words to action. In his garage, he assembled a rocket and equipped it with a steam engine he made with his own hands. He was going to climb several thousand meters in height and take some pictures to prove that the shape of the Earth represented the appearance of a disk. But the local authorities did not give permission to take off. In the United States that same autumn, the Internationalconference where supporters of the flat earth theory met. They put forward several proofs that the Earth is flat.
They believe that the planet has no curvature, since visually the horizon line is absolutely straight. In their opinion, if the Earth were curved, any of the bodies of water would have a bulge in the middle. They also believe that all photos from space are fake. Quite a few ridiculous claims are made by supporters of this movement.
Winter Earth
What does Earth look like from space in winter? NASA showed how the New Year holidays look like. According to agency staff, during the New Year holidays in megacities, illumination increases by almost 30 percent. The scientists were able to design the video presented on the Internet using images from the Some NPP satellite.
Experts from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and NASA have carefully checked the information that was received from this device.
Living Earth
Very interesting to see how beautiful the Earth is now. Today, all this can be seen thanks to the international station located in space. Now a real-time image of the Earth from a satellite is not a fantasy. On this Internet page, you can join the many thousands of people watching the planet right now.
Where the station is located (at an altitude of 400 km), NASA installed 3 high-quality cameras developed by private companies. At the command of the Mission Control Center, the cosmonauts send thesecameras in the right direction. Now ordinary people can see the Earth from a satellite from all sides in real time. You can see mountains, oceans, atmosphere, cities. The mobility of this station allows you to see half of the globe in just an hour.
