
ALT Photograph of Earth captured by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972. Earth takes up most of the image. Dark blue ocean water and swirling white clouds are visible. Africa is a large brown landmass from the center to the upper left, stretching from about 9 to 12 o'clock. Clouds cover most of the 6 o'clock. Credit: NASA

ALT A full disk image of Earth, as seen from the Orion capsule. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. From about 8 to 9 o'clock, a large brown landmass is Africa, with the Iberian peninsula twinkling with lights just where the planet curves. At the 1 o'clock spot, aurora glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

ALT Earth as seen from the Orion capsule. It is divided sharply in half, with a line running diagonally from the 11 o'clock to the 4 o'clock. The lower left half is a bright pale blue. Its surface is covered with swirly, puffy white clouds, with texture indicating different thicknesses. The upper right half is dark, with no illumination from the Sun. Earth is set against the black of space. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

ALT A sea of colourful stars and galaxies appear to swim in the vast blackness of space around a hazy halo at centre stage. In the middle of the image, the fuzzy-looking bulb of light in a warm shade of yellow extends around a small bright spot, nestled within a thin light circle that appears to be drawn closely around it. As we follow the central halo’s rim outwards, its brightness dims and blends smoothly into its surroundings. Here, extended discs of shades ranging from a warm purple to golden yellow, and piercing dots of light with sharp diffraction spikes are spread evenly across the image.

ALT This image shows an oval that represents the whole sky if you folded it out onto a flat piece of paper. The oval is dotted with many regions ranging from blue, green, yellow, and red in color. While the image looks chaotic, the blue regions are nearly always surrounded by green. The yellow are embedded in the green, and red embedded in the yellow. These show temperature differences in the early universe, which ultimately lead us to see where matter clumped together to form the structures we see today. The image is watermarked with “Credit: NASA / WMAP Science Team.”
























