Earth from Mars

May 22, 2003 12:21 PM

Pale Blue Dot:The Earth and Moon as photographed from Mars. Just in case you needed a bit of perspective.
posted by aladfar (14 comments total)

Cool link. I especially like this image with both Earth and Jupiter in it.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:25 PM on May 22, 2003

very cool.
posted by crunchland at 12:34 PM on May 22, 2003

Imagine voyaging to Mars and seeing home so far away. Damn, that would be a lonely feeling. "Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do..."
posted by Holden at 12:36 PM on May 22, 2003

humbling. now can i get out of this matrix?
posted by azul at 12:38 PM on May 22, 2003

Beautiful images - great story, but damn, if space.com isn't the most annoying site. Multiple popups, limited imagery, etc. Story and full images available here from the horse's mouth - NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems. (No offense, aladfar - great post, thanks)
posted by kokogiak at 1:04 PM on May 22, 2003

That is incredible. Thank you for the link.

How long must we wait before we have the courage once again to reach for the stars and send humans to our red neighbor?
posted by EmoChild at 1:23 PM on May 22, 2003

That's a little too much fucking perspective.
posted by e.e. coli at 1:29 PM on May 22, 2003

the best thing about NASA is they give you the raw images. Let's see George Bush do THAT!
posted by blue_beetle at 1:46 PM on May 22, 2003

Why can't you see any stars?

(it's full of them...)
posted by hellinskira at 2:49 PM on May 22, 2003

Great link, thanks.
posted by yoga at 4:46 PM on May 22, 2003

[this is good]
posted by dg at 12:53 AM on May 23, 2003

Wow. I second e.e. coli's sentiment. And dg's.

And hellinskira: don't know if you were actually curious or just joking, but you probably can't see any stars because the exposure time wasn't long enough. Earth and Jupiter are probably the brightest objects by far in the Martian night sky, so the correct amount of exposure time for them would be less than that for the stars.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:28 AM on May 23, 2003

That's right. Jupiter outshines every star visible from the surface of the earth. If they exposed long enough to show the stars too then those lovely cloud bands would be overexposed.

Those are gorgeous pictures, aladfar and Ufez. This is what I miss when I step away from here for half a day! Wow, wow, wow!
posted by Songdog at 8:23 AM on May 23, 2003

Perspective indeed. Thanks.
posted by Dick Paris at 9:07 AM on May 23, 2003