NASA Releases New High-Definition Image of Earth

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NASA Releases New High-Definition Image of Earth

Posted by timothy on Thursday January 26, 2012 @03:48AM from the texas-centric-view dept.

New submitter klchoward writes "Working for NOAA, I have been really pleased to see the weather data from the new Suomi NPP satellite coming into our computer models already but have been blown away by its capability to take stunning high-definition images of our planet. See the article at Huffington Post or go straight to the image at NASA's website." Reader derekmead has some images from further afield, too: these beautiful images of Mars come from NASA's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, mounted on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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Heyt! by tverbeek · 2012-01-26 03:50 · Score: 4, Funny

I can see my house!

--
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
1. Re:Heyt! by Threni · 2012-01-26 04:02 · Score: 0
  
  Heyters gonna heyt.
2. Re:Heyt! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 09:05 · Score: 0
  
  Heyt! So can I!
What a miserable looking mud ball by oodaloop · 2012-01-26 03:54 · Score: 2

Send a robot probe!

--
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
1. Re:What a miserable looking mud ball by ewg · 2012-01-26 03:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  If you don't like it, go someplace else.
  
  --
  org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
2. Re:What a miserable looking mud ball by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:13 · Score: 1
  
  I've heard it's Mostly Harmless though.
3. Re:What a miserable looking mud ball by spidercoz · 2012-01-26 04:18 · Score: 2
  
  don't worry, it's scheduled for demolition next week
  
  --
  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
4. Re:What a miserable looking mud ball by kimvette · 2012-01-26 05:02 · Score: 2
  
  No big loss. After all, its inhabitants concern themselves entirely too much about the movement of green paper, and still think that digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
  
  --
  The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Copyright Infringement! by mdsharpe · 2012-01-26 03:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Wait a minute, I've seen a photo a bit like that before. Quick, call the lawyers!
1. Re:Copyright Infringement! by jtseng · 2012-01-26 04:35 · Score: 2
  
  Did they get it from Megaupload? Someone tell Chris Dodd...
  
  --
  Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
2. Re:Copyright Infringement! by Idbar · 2012-01-26 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  Did they get a release form from Earth to make it public? Oh, this will come back at us!
  
  Which reminds me of this article
3. Re:Copyright Infringement! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 11:32 · Score: 0
  
  My house is in that picture. Nobody got my release to use it. I am going to fucking sue NASA for all they are worth, or a flight to the ISS.
Link to original size pic. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 03:56 · Score: 5, Informative

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/618486main_earth_full.jpg
1. Re:Link to original size pic. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-01-26 03:59 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The overall(presumably composite) pic is pretty cool looking; but does anybody know if they have the data available in the less-immediately-elegant-but-rather-more-useful georectified form?
  
  As wallpaper, the press shot can hardly be beat. If they have the GeoTIFFs somewhere, though, that would have much broader application...
2. Re:Link to original size pic. by sanosuke001 · 2012-01-26 04:06 · Score: 1
  
  I was looking for the same; either tiles or a single 4k or 8k image for use as a texture?
  
  --
  -SaNo
3. Re:Link to original size pic. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  Not exactly what you're asking for, but if you haven't seen this site you should: http://planetpixelemporium.com/planets.html
4. Re:Link to original size pic. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:59 · Score: 0
  
  Unfortunately, it is only offered as showing the USA.
  I'd like to see a Europe/Asia/Africa version too.
  No, actually, I'd like a complete version in a polar coordinate system. (Is there a image format that supports polar coordinate systems? I bet TIFF does. It does *everything*. ;)
5. Re:Link to original size pic. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:11 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Original data sets suitable for conversion to texture maps are available. Start with these links:
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/
  http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_cat.php?categoryID=1484
6. Re:Link to original size pic. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:16 · Score: 0
  
  So... can someone tell me why this is special in any way?
  I've seen many, many image like this and MUCH bigger.
  Here are just some examples:
  http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/57000/57723/globe_west_2048.jpg
  http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/57000/57723/globe_east_2048.jpg
7. Re:Link to original size pic. by gcnaddict · 2012-01-26 06:46 · Score: 2
  
  Looking at the top of the sphere in the image, it's apparently to me that the image itself is a 3D rendering resulting from many land shots of the Earth stitched together.
  
  NASA readily admits that this is a composite image, but perhaps mentioning that it's a composite of land-pass images stitched together on a 3D sphere modeled after the Earth would make more sense. People might otherwise just assume this is a composite of photographs taken from and stiched together in 2D.
  
  It does make me wonder why the rendering wasn't anti-aliased, though.
  
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8. Re:Link to original size pic. by idontgno · 2012-01-26 07:16 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I'm not sure I'm following where you're leading. This is a composite; it's a composite of Earth-view swaths of a sun-synchronous polar orbiting earth observation satellite. The "native geolocation space" of the images is a swath approximately 3000 km wide and tracking under the orbital path of the spacecraft (i.e., ground-track Mercator). This image is based on reprojecting those swaths to the geoid, so it looks like you're floating above the Equator and looking down at Earth.
  As to anti-aliasing, I dunno. This isn't a standard product of Suomi's ground system, so whatever aesthetic and technical decisions are reflected in this image are entirely on the NASA folks who did this.
  
  --
  Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
9. Re:Link to original size pic. by mug+funky · 2012-01-26 11:08 · Score: 1
  
  if you're upset about only seeing north america, you'll be more upset when you see the crud in the gulf of mexico clearly visible.
10. Re:Link to original size pic. by petman · 2012-01-26 14:55 · Score: 1
  
  ... so it looks like you're floating above the Equator and looking down at Earth.
  No, not above the Equator. The North American continent doesn't cross the Equator.
  
  --
  Dropbox drops it like it's hot.
That's our home... by jtseng · 2012-01-26 04:02 · Score: 3, Insightful

We have to love it since we can't leave it.

--
Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
1. Re:That's our home... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:06 · Score: 0
  
  We have to love it since we can't leave it.
  Like the geek in their parent's basement..
2. Re:That's our home... by spidercoz · 2012-01-26 04:20 · Score: 1
  
  or the middle aged former athlete in his own past
  
  --
  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
3. Re:That's our home... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 14:59 · Score: 0
  
  We have to love it since we can't leave it.
  Not true, we're perfectly capable of being miserable whilst we're here.
4. Re:That's our home... by gumpish · 2012-01-27 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  we can't leave it.
  Not with that attitude.
Hopelessly romantic by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:05 · Score: 0

Those one world romantics at NASA have really outdone themselves this time. They edited the picture so that not a single border line can be seen. It looks like one undivided planet. Those fools.
Big by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:06 · Score: 0

US looks as big as the egos of politicians
Go Suomi ! by Mr+Europe · 2012-01-26 04:08 · Score: 1

Great picture
Too Large by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:09 · Score: 2, Insightful

The North American continent is too large. Or the Earth is too small.
It is very bothersome, and creates the illusion that the USA is much larger than it is!
1. Re:Too Large by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:18 · Score: 0
  
  And South America is MISSING!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Re:Too Large by Sockatume · 2012-01-26 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  There's a lot of distortion in the image. The probe is only 500 miles above the Earth, so the probe can only see about 1700 miles in each direction before it reaches the horizon. They've basically presented the image as seen through a fish-eye lens.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
3. Re:Too Large by Sockatume · 2012-01-26 04:36 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Actually on further inspection it seems that this was electronically generated from sweeps of the Earth, and therefore they could've chosen any perspective they wanted, but the horizon distance in the image is correct for someone looking from 500 miles above that spot.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
4. Re:Too Large by Joce640k · 2012-01-26 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  I was hoping for a pic of the other side, where the interesting stuff is. It looks like they haven't bothered.
  
  --
  No sig today...
5. Re:Too Large by idontgno · 2012-01-26 11:15 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, your guess as to the altitude is pretty good.
  From http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/media/newsletter/winter09/nppsatellite.pdf:
  
  The NPP spacecraft [was] launched into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 825 kilometers with an equator crossing time of 1:30 pm, a period of 100 minutes, and a repeat cycle of 16 days.
  825 km is 512 miles.
  So, the nadir point (center) of the image is largely distortion-free and scales closely to the geometry of the original instrument swath. As you get farther away from the center, the distortion increases, of course. Still, I'm guessing that Earth really does look that... swollen.. from that relatively low altitude.
  
  --
  Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
6. Re:Too Large by petman · 2012-01-26 15:08 · Score: 1
  
  The comment in the image file says this:
  
  Projection: Near-sided perspective from 2124 kilometers above 20 North by 100 West
  
  --
  Dropbox drops it like it's hot.
In next episode of CSI:whatever by gmuslera · 2012-01-26 04:10 · Score: 3, Funny

Enhance!
Looks like it is photoshopped. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2012-01-26 04:14 · Score: 5, Funny

Looks like they have done some serious photoshopping. I could not see any of the lines showing the state borders. May be they erased it for security reasons. Also I did not see the pink tear drop like thingie with A, B etc written on it. Simply put, it does not look anything like the satellite images I have seen in maps.google.com.

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
1. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by MonsterTrimble · 2012-01-26 04:23 · Score: 1
  
  My first thought when I read the headline was 'Cool. When is it making it into Google Earth?'
  
  --
  I call it 'The Aristocrats'
2. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by spidercoz · 2012-01-26 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  I know you're trying to be funny, but you're failing. And 9 minutes too late.
  
  --
  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
3. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by Laxori666 · 2012-01-26 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  The mods have spoken - he succeeded at funny.
4. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by k6mfw · 2012-01-26 06:48 · Score: 1
  
  yeah, it aint got no borders or labels.
  
  --
  mfwright@batnet.com
5. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 06:48 · Score: 0
  
  I don't think so ... (Score:5, Funny)
6. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by FranktehReaver · 2012-01-26 09:17 · Score: 1
  
  I am revoking your funny inspector badge! You are off the force!
7. Re:Looks like it is photoshopped. by IwantToKeepAnon · 2012-01-31 11:12 · Score: 1
  
  I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, "Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile." I spent last summer folding it. I also have a full-size map of the world. I hardly ever unroll it. People ask me where I live, and I say, "E6". -- Stephen Wright
  
  --
  "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
What we need... by wbr1 · 2012-01-26 04:15 · Score: 2

...is for every politician and corporate bigwig to have an image like this permanently tattooed onto their retina. Maybe then they would realize how small, fragile, and insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things. It's nice thinking but it seems that greed and short-sightedness win the day most of the time.

--
Silence is a state of mime.
1. Re:What we need... by confused+one · 2012-01-26 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  I keep one of the pale blue dot images as a background. The one currently up is Earthrise seen from Mars via the Opportunity rover. It's a reminder of how insignificant I am...
2. Re:What we need... by jc42 · 2012-01-26 08:18 · Score: 2
  
  ...is for every politician and corporate bigwig to have an image like this permanently tattooed onto their retina.
  Nah; that image would mostly impress American politicians with the "fact" that the only continent visible from space is North America. South America, Africa and Eurasia simply don't exist, or are too insignificant to include on a picture of the Earth. For that matter, Canada doesn't seem to exist, either.
  Yeah, yeah, I know; it's what was visible from one point 500 miles (800 km) up from just one point on the satellite's orbit. But we have a lot of replies already that seem to be pushing the idea that that's what's visible from space ;-)
  I wonder if we can find the full series of similar images from other spots on the orbit.
  
  --
  Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
3. Re:What we need... by petman · 2012-01-26 15:11 · Score: 1
  
  500 miles (800 km)? I think it's higher. From the image file's metadata:
  
  Projection: Near-sided perspective from 2124 kilometers above 20 North by 100 West
  
  --
  Dropbox drops it like it's hot.
4. Re:What we need... by jc42 · 2012-01-27 10:31 · Score: 1
  
  500 miles (800 km)? I think it's higher. From the image file's metadata:
  
  Projection: Near-sided perspective from 2124 kilometers above 20 North by 100 West
  I think you're right. I was just using the estimates from other posters in this discussion. But I'd guess that the NASA folks just might be more accurate than random /. posters. ;-)
  In any case, when I saw the image, I was immediately struck by the fact that it was obviously the view from a point rather close to the Earth. It has only about half of North America plus all of Central America, but no South America. It's not even close to a hemisphere.
  The funny part, of course, was the people who took this as an "image of the Earth" on a par with the classical "blue marble" image from the Apollo crew. It's a strange image of the planet if it includes only one medium-size continent. And it might not be a coincidence that it shows prominently the US portion of the planet.
  Still, it's a nice image. I'll bet it gets a bit of use, if not quite as much as the Apollo image, which mostly shows Africa. (But Africa is where our species evolved, so that photo seems appropriate as The Iconic Image of the planet. ;-)
  
  --
  Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Where is all the "green"? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:17 · Score: 0

It looks like everywhere is turning into desert.
Man... we have just destroyed the biomass of the planet.
1. Re:Where is all the "green"? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:22 · Score: 0
  
  It's winter landscape. Most of corn and soy has been harvested.
2. Re:Where is all the "green"? by tverbeek · 2012-01-26 04:23 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The picture was taken a few weeks ago. The high-latitude and high-altitude parts of North America aren't very verdant this time of year.
  
  --
  http://alternatives.rzero.com/
My 1/2 gig PC cried by cpu6502 · 2012-01-26 04:22 · Score: 1

It didn't have enough room to display the 8000x8000 image and froze.
May be time for an upgrade.

--
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
1. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by sakdoctor · 2012-01-26 04:44 · Score: 1
  
  1/2 gig of what?
2. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by inpher · 2012-01-26 06:10 · Score: 2
  
  gig 1 |gig| noun
  1 chiefly a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse.
  2 a light, fast, narrow boat adapted for rowing or sailing.
  I too would like to know if it is half a boat or half a carriage.
3. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by jdgeorge · 2012-01-26 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  Not a system memory issue, I'm pretty sure, I think. My 4GB RHEL 6.2 laptop's GNOME session crashed while Firefox tried to load the image.
  I wouldn't be surprise if it were partly due to my ancient Firefox (3.6.24), but crashing GNOME isn't Firefox's fault.
4. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by Forty+Two+Tenfold · 2012-01-26 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  I too would like to know if it is half man, half a boat or half a carriage.
  
  --
  Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
5. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by Forty+Two+Tenfold · 2012-01-26 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  a/or/and/
  
  --
  Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
6. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by Forty+Two+Tenfold · 2012-01-26 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  facepalm
  
  --
  Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
7. Re:My 1/2 gig PC cried by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 08:56 · Score: 0
  
  Your system must be messed up somehow. I had no problems opening the 8kx8x version with either firefox 3.6.24 or KDE's desktop viewer with ubuntu 10.04LTS.
  This was on a fairly modest i7-880 with 8GB RAM and a 2GB Radeon HD-5970 video card.
Obligatory Programming Joke by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:23 · Score: 0

Hello, world!
Admit it... by kryliss · 2012-01-26 04:30 · Score: 5, Funny

How many of you had the urge to zoom in with your mouse wheel?

--
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Just USA seen from space. Not whole Earth. by Schwarzy · 2012-01-26 04:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

I much prefer this one about Apollo-1 crew:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2160.html
Very nice shot. Reminds also how difficult and dangerous was the space race.
1. Re:Just USA seen from space. Not whole Earth. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:41 · Score: 0
  
  Wrong link?
  Unless you're making some kind of subtle commentary on the size of Grissom's Florida.
2. Re:Just USA seen from space. Not whole Earth. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 13:41 · Score: 0
  
  Regarding subject line... Yep, you can see some of the USA. Mexico is in the center of the image. Geography fail. Generally speaking, you can't see a "whole" 3D object in a single image. Spacial reasoning fail. Since you have to pick a "side" of the object to show in the image, you might as well pick the side where your organization (NASA) is headquartered (the "I can see my house from here" factor). Common sense fail.
Wow! Who knew? by Jawnn · 2012-01-26 04:39 · Score: 2

Mexico is the center of the world.
It's not a photograph by Guspaz · 2012-01-26 04:41 · Score: 4, Informative

It's pretty, but it's not a photograph of the earth. It's CG; a rendering of a sphere texturemapped with images of the surface of the planet that they captured. Neither NASA nor huffpost are misrepresenting what it is, but there's something special about the original blue marble, which is an actual *photograph* of the entire planet, not something thrown together in 3ds max.
1. Re:It's not a photograph by Lev13than · 2012-01-26 04:58 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's a little sad that the last time any human was able to see the entire earth at once was December 1972. That's like traveling across the ocean and then coming home and sitting on your front porch for the next 30 years.
  
  --
  When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
2. Re:It's not a photograph by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:11 · Score: 0
  
  Even if you are in high orbit you can only see at most half of the planet at a time.
3. Re:It's not a photograph by digitalsolo · 2012-01-26 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  Or 40 years.
  
  --
  Just another ignorant American.
4. Re:It's not a photograph by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly. One can clearly see the aliasing going on in the "corners" (e.g. the 1:30 clock position) at the border of the sphere.
  It looks all noisy, typical for flat image data being forced into a sphere.
5. Re:It's not a photograph by Dinghy · 2012-01-26 05:46 · Score: 1
  
  Nah, you just need some really big mirrors.
6. Re:It's not a photograph by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 06:37 · Score: 1
  
  Even if you are in high orbit you can only see at most half of the planet at a time.
  When you look at a tennis ball, do you remind yourself that you're only seeing half of it?
7. Re:It's not a photograph by RoccamOccam · 2012-01-26 06:50 · Score: 1
  
  Weren't you supposed to start that paragraph with "IT'S BEEN SHOPPED"?
8. Re:It's not a photograph by Qhartb · 2012-01-26 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  Even if you are in high orbit you can only see at most half of the planet at a time.
  When you look at a tennis ball, do you remind yourself that you're only seeing half of it?
  Often, yes. Is that just me?
9. Re:It's not a photograph by ogl_codemonkey · 2012-01-26 10:48 · Score: 1
  
  Even if you are in high orbit you can only see at most half of the planet at a time.
  When you look at a tennis ball, do you remind yourself that you're only seeing half of it?
  Often, yes. Is that just me?
  You are not alone.
10. Re:It's not a photograph by steelfood · 2012-01-26 11:14 · Score: 1
  
  That's like traveling across the ocean and then coming home and sitting on your front porch for the next 30 years.
  That's just retirement.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Brown by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 04:42 · Score: 0

Why is North America so brown? It looks almost desert-like.
1. Re:Brown by justin12345 · 2012-01-26 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe because it's winter?
  
  I'm guessing that most of the country is pretty brown in January, excepting the lower latitudes and areas with a lot of evergreens. I suppose it also could be a product of the camera, for instance a lot of IR or something.
  
  --
  Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
2. Re:Brown by nomorecwrd · 2012-01-26 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  Late summer at the time the photograph was taken?
  
  Season change makes a big difference at any height
3. Re:Brown by Cimexus · 2012-01-26 21:21 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, and I thought Australia was dry ... but even it has more green in a sat image than visible in this image.
  To be fair, it's winter and most of the US has been cleared of native vegetation and replaced with farmland. Crops have all been harvested so there ain't much there except dead grass (dead because a lot of the continent freezes in winter). Plus it's been a dry winter (not much snow in the north nor rain in the south).
Fractals Fractals Everywhere by jomama717 · 2012-01-26 04:52 · Score: 1, Interesting

The clouds, the rivers, the mountains, the coastlines, you name it - you can see fractals in any frame of that image, it's beautiful. Start at the tip of Florida and go ESE in full zoom, the cloud patterns almost look like they were generated in FRACTINT.

--
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
Suomi :-) by CptPicard · 2012-01-26 05:04 · Score: 3, Informative

As a Finn, I'm glad to have "Finland" (in Finnish) up there in orbit :-)

--
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
1. Re:Suomi :-) by TeknoHog · 2012-01-26 06:52 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Apparently, it was named after Verner Suomi, so it's not a direct reference to our country, but there is a Finnish ancestry nevertheless.
  
  --
  Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
2. Re:Suomi :-) by CptPicard · 2012-01-26 08:10 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but how many people with the actual surname "Suomi" do you know anyway... :-)
  
  --
  I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
Me wants Europe too! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:30 · Score: 0

Pic above is not worthwhile - cause I'm from Europe. Meh.
Wallpaper Instructions by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 05:31 · Score: 1

Was just looking at the 'Set as Wallpaper' instructions
And people say Mac's are easy to use
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2159.html
1. Re:Wallpaper Instructions by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 09:57 · Score: 0
  
  Was just looking at the 'Set as Wallpaper' instructions And people say Mac's are easy to use
  Huh?
  
  MAC OS X: Right-click on the image and click 'Use image as Desktop picture'
  
  from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/oco/multimedia/wallpaper.html
makes a good desktop picture by eobanb · 2012-01-26 05:39 · Score: 1

It's already my new desktop

--
Take off every sig. For great justice.
It has the opposite effect by gr8_phk · 2012-01-26 05:49 · Score: 1

You think an image of the whole earth might make people feel insignificant, but I suspect having a nice visual aid actually helps people in power feel they are more in control - they can see the big picture and feel a stronger sense of ownership ;-) I know it helps me grasp the concept of the "whole world" even if the scale is so foreign you can't conceive of a person's size in the picture.
1. Re:It has the opposite effect by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 13:27 · Score: 0
  
  ...the scale is so foreign you can't conceive of a person's size in the picture.
  Actually, there are some easily distinguishable features in the area where I live in this picture so I do get a pretty good grasp of how big (small) I am in this picture. More importantly, this picture has helped me comprehend just how big the world is (relative to my size), more than any other picture I've seen.
  This "pale blue dot" is HUGE!
Cloud-Free update? by gr8_phk · 2012-01-26 05:50 · Score: 2

Will they be producing a new higher resolution version of the cloud-free earth? That would be nice - more pixels and more up to date.
1. Re:Cloud-Free update? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 08:37 · Score: 0
  
  They would have to wait for a cloud-free day.
Where is it? by tequila_j · 2012-01-26 06:03 · Score: 2

Meh, It miss a lot of countries. That picture can't be real
*RANT* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 08:09 · Score: 0

How many of you had the urge to zoom in with your mouse wheel?
Good Lord, I hate that mouse-wheel zoom. Mouse scrolling should *pan* like every other app in the world, not zoom.
I can see an even more detailed version. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 08:23 · Score: 0

I simply look outside. Infinite resolution.
Chemtrails by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 09:08 · Score: 0

just below the great lakes... lots of 'em.
Click on Full Size by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 12:50 · Score: 0

No signs of life.
Can we have southern hemisphere images too? by msevior · 2012-01-26 14:27 · Score: 1

The orginal 1972 "Blue Marble" showed a beautiful collection of cold front spun up out of antartica. It would be great to get some composite images of the other side the world too.
Oblig. MST3K reference by Dachannien · 2012-01-26 15:11 · Score: 1

Just like we left it, with the USA in charge!
FTFY by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-26 22:39 · Score: 0

"NASA releases new high definition image of the US"