The Whole Earth Photolog

October 3, 2008 10:34 PM

From grainy stills to gorgeous high-resolution portraits, from intimate pairings to stark contrasts, and from old standbys to little-known surprises, The Planetary Society's Earth galleries offer a rich collection of stunning photography and video footage of our world as seen from both planetary spacecraft and geostationary satellites. It is a vista that has inspired many a deep thought in the lucky few that have seen it firsthand [previously]. Oh, and the rest of the Solar System is pretty neat, too.
posted by Rhaomi (9 comments total)

Your favorite planet sucks.

(Thanks for the post!..that gorgeous hi-res link is absolutely stunning.)

And any post about our solar system is incomplete without Gustav Holst's vision of them.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 11:28 PM on October 3, 2008

My favorite is A Pale Blue Dot.
posted by Mr_Zero at 12:19 AM on October 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

remember, there's a lot more to our solar system than just nine planets
posted by sexyrobot at 12:35 AM on October 4, 2008

also... WOAH! the GOES images in the 'water vapor' part of the spectrum?!?
seriously? WOAH! (thats the americas, btw)
(if it asks for a user/password try: bugmenot / kmw728 )

never seen this before... more here found via here
posted by sexyrobot at 12:51 AM on October 4, 2008

aaand also...just did some math...from geosynch orbit (where those pix are from) the earth takes up ~17.1 degrees of the sky...that's about like a dinner plate at arms length, a basketball in the hand...
posted by sexyrobot at 1:16 AM on October 4, 2008

I find pictures of Earth taken from space (especially Mr_Zero's "Pale Blue Dot" photo) both beautiful and terrifying. How small is our planet? Rrrrrrrrrreally fucking small. How big is space? Rrrrrrrrrreally fucking big.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:40 AM on October 4, 2008

I find that if I cross my eyes when looking at this one (sized down to fit the window). The slight rotation gives it a 3D effect. I can remember doing it on some images of Jupiter (around the time of Shoemaker-Levy) and the effect was really remarkable.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:05 AM on October 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

One of my favorites: earth and moon seen from mars.
posted by treepour at 10:50 AM on October 4, 2008

If the 'Pale Blue Dot' excerpt and the 'many a deep thought' link give a shiver down the spine or the photos, a sense of awe, you really should watch In the Shadow of the Moon (IMDb). A documentary telling the experiences of the astronauts of the Apollo missions, it includes some incredible footage and gives some sense of the profound effects of seeing Earth from space. I can't recommend it enough.
posted by pots at 1:06 PM on October 5, 2008 [1 favorite]