Your home from 114 million miles away...

A truly awe inspiring photo which show's you how Earth and our moon looks from distant planets. Just imagine looking up and seeing that mysterious double star in the night sky. Amazing - makes you realise how small we really are, 114 million miles in the terms of space is nothing and yet from there we are a mere speck of dirt.

In the lower left portion of this image, the Earth can be seen, as well as the much smaller Moon to Earth's right. When MESSENGER took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth. To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). Though it is a beautiful, thought-provoking picture, viewing our planet from far away was not the main reason that the mission team planned the collection of this image. Instead, this image was acquired as part of MESSENGER's campaign to search for vulcanoids, small rocky objects that have been postulated to exist in orbits between Mercury and the Sun. Though no vulcanoids have yet been detected, the MESSENGER spacecraft is in a unique position to look for smaller and fainter vulcanoids than has ever before been possible. MESSENGER's vulcanoid searches occur near perihelion passages, when the spacecraft's orbit brings it closest to the Sun. Today is another such perihelion, and MESSENGER is taking a new set of images to search for tiny asteroids lurking close to the Sun.

Link to Source: Article


[edit on 19-8-2010 by fiftyfifty]

That is truly awe inspiring. FINALLY the pictures got back to us. right? haha


..would you believe me if i said I've seen that view before? haha [i joke]


wish i knew how to flag, eh i'll learn some day.


oh well. S + F

[edit on 19-8-2010 by tauschen]

[edit on 19-8-2010 by tauschen]

wish every leader could see this and see just a wee and small we are, might make every stop and think abit

Awesome picture, S+F

Really makes you wonder just how much we matter in the grand scheme of things.

Gotta ask just one question though.

On the right side of the pic is another orb, similar to the moon in the pic. Would this be Venus, Mars or one of the other larger planets?

Thanks OP

reply to post by kai22


I don't think we matter at all. The sad thing is, with all of the money, power and resources on this planet, we still wouldn't have enough to explore the universe to a distance where there may be other life. So instead, we will waste everything we have fighting each other like Neanderthals until we destroy ourselves and the one place we have to call home.

With regards to the star on the right, I think it must be Venus although I am not entirely sure where Messenger was in relation to the sun when this pic was taken... could be Mercury.

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /gallery/sciencePhotos/pics/CW0181616382B_RA_3_stretch.png on this server.

Upload to ATS please.

Cant view this image from South Korea which i'm stationed at.

Can you do me the favor of posting this image otherwise if possible?

reply to post by GrOuNd_ZeRo


Sorry, not sure how to embed the image, somebody please help!

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
Cant view this image from South Korea which i'm stationed at.

Can you do me the favor of posting this image otherwise if possible?

I've added a link to the website it is taken from in the OP above. Hope that helps.

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Here you go people, enjoy

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d995cf62b59b.png[/atsimg]

Cool, we're so small.

[edit on 19/8/10 by Edews]

reply to post by kai22


Thanks to Kai22

reply to post by fiftyfifty


No problem matey, happy to help

To embed a picture, you have to have it in your photo's here on ATS.
Click on the picture, and underneath it will be three bars -

First is to use as avatar
Second is to use as mini-profile background
THIRD is to embed... copy all the text from this bar and paste into your post

Hope this helps

EDIT: I find it easier to have a second ATS page open, then you're not going back and forth too much

[edit on 19-8-2010 by kai22]

I hear that they have good food there and easy women. Anybody want to go there with me?

Nice picture, thanks.

reply to post by verylowfrequency


Let's Go Brotha!! haha

Beautiful picture of Tsio-on-tsia-te. Funny how some things affect a man. I felt very emotional when viewing that picture. Maybe in some long forgotten memory I've seen Earth like that before. Home.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0c3879ded57b.jpg[/atsimg] pictures like these show us just how insignificant we are in the universe(s) [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a5ba00a64b68.jpg[/atsimg]

Utterly breathtaking picture. Like the Pale Blue Dot, pictures like this really put things into perspective!

Star and Flag!

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Just looking into the background there. The amount of stars are awesome and humbling to say the least.

reply to post by fiftyfifty


This is an incredible photo. I had not realized that the moon is that large...are you sure that that is the moon? I like the cluster of stars that appear to the left of the earth in the magnified shot...It is fantastic to see how all these appear to be arranged...It almost looks like a lion standing beside the earth! Beautiful! Fantastic! Wonderful! I see why this is the time of day to be viewing this now...thanks a lot...