This was just released today by NASA. It is quite a humbling image from the Mars rover Curiosity, though it’s not quite the same impact as the Blue Marble image from Apollo 8, but historically significant nonetheless.
This view of the twilight sky and Martian horizon taken by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover includes Earth as the brightest point of light in the night sky. Earth is a little left of center in the image, and our moon is just below Earth.
Researchers used the left eye camera of Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) to capture this scene about 80 minutes after sunset on the 529th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (Jan. 31, 2014). The image has been processed to remove effects of cosmic rays.
A human observer with normal vision, if standing on Mars, could easily see Earth and the moon as two distinct, bright “evening stars.”
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project’s Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover’s Mastcam.
More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.
Click for a full resolution image:
Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17936
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A truly amazing sight, were it possible, would be the view of the Earth/Moon system from Venus when Venus is at inferior conjunction. Although the Earth’s albedo is lower than that of Venus, it (the Earth) would appear far brighter than Venus ever appears from Earth. As Venus approaches the Earth along its interior orbit, it grows brighter as the distance decreases. But as it continues its approach, it presents a progressively larger but thinner crescent which ultimately limits its apparent brightness. At it’s closest approach, the side we see is 0% illuminated. But at that same moment of closest approach, the Earth is 100% illuminated as seen from Venus — as is the Moon. The Earth would be about 3X brighter than Venus ever appears from the Earth, and the Moon would appear as a very bright star no more than 0.5° away (generally much closer).
How cool would that be?
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works; and That my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139
Scarface says:
(Quote from inside video): “You are not the center of the universe.”
I’m wondering how you would go about proving that. In an infinite universe, any object would be in the center because the distance to the “edge” of the universe would be the same (infinite) in all directions. In a finite universe, if the big bang was asymmetrical, and our side expanded faster than other sides, it would still be possible for us to be in the center (although highly unlikely). It just bothers me when someone takes an assumption, even one that is highly probable, and elevates it to a fact. Climate alarmists do that all the time with assumptions that seem probable to them at the time but are based on incomplete or estimated data.
Louis,
Yes, and between the infanitesimally small and the infinite universe, we are at midpoint. So we are not really so small after all.
I can see the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks headquarters! Yay!
Click on this included link at the top of the page in the intro paragraph.
Blue Marble image from Apollo 8, –
Now look at the amount of clouds over the ocean in the latest pic of the earth 2012 (the last one) as compared to those in 2001 and 2002 and then the early ones, Apollo 17 – 1978 and the earlier photo dated 1967. Surely this massive difference in clouds has to do something to the “global temperature” and surely CO2 is not causing it.
I look great. I always thought I was pretty cool.
Excellent. Such images never fail to give me wonder. Long may it continue.
This recalls to mind an image i took some time ago. On the face of it, it does not seem so much but when you consider that we are looking at our Moon, Venus and Jupiter with accompanying stars then I think it’s thought provoking at least.
http://imgur.com/b17n6hW
This is not proof that Earth exists. This is probably photoshopped. [/sarc]
Glass half full: When Snowball Earth 2.0 happens, it will be easier to see!
Humbling to say the least!
That asteroid thing, well…….
A favorite Moon, Jupiter conjunction with Calisto, Io, Ganymede, Europa visible.
http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/2012/07/astronomy-picture-of-day-moon-meets.html
How small we are
How big our God is
“… At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”
H. G. Wells
Google Earth could have done a better job.
David
http://www.masil-astro-imaging.com/SWI/UV%20montage%20flat.jpg
“But the telescope plainly shows us its horns to be as bounded and distinct as those of the moon, and they are seen to belong to a very large circle, in a ratio almost forty times as great as the same disc when it is beyond the sun, toward the end of its morning appearances.
SAGR. 0 Nicholas Copernicus, what a pleasure it would have been for you to see this part of your system confirmed by so clear an experiment!
SALV. Yes, but how much less would his sublime intellect be celebrated among the learned! For as I said before, we may see that with reason as his guide he resolutely continued to affirm what sensible experience seemed to contradict. I cannot get over my amazement that he was constantly willing to persist in saying that Venus might go around the sun and be more than six times as far from us at one time than at other times as at another, and still look always equal, when it should have appeared forty times larger.” Galileo
It still remains an amazing insight by both Galileo and Copernicus yet there is another one in there that was missed.
I see No.8 has their washing out again.
Very small mote in a very large universe. So, if we destroy the planet none would notice. We better start to look after it then and give those plants the CO2 they crave.
The origin of all learning and reason and humbug.
In this Galaxy.
I consider it improbable that it can happen more than once,
in a Galaxy,
as the odds are to incalculable for the perversity of
humane kind to be duplicated.
Even so that could be to low.
.
Reminds me of the book cover for “Mostly Harmless”.
Quick, everybody go outside and wave!
Another stunning pic a bit closer:
http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2014/02/our-world-our-atmosphere-our-moon/?cmpid=staffblogshcat
Color brings to mind quote by Arthur C. Clarke: “How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.”
Jean Meeus said “the Earth was seen in Mars’ evening sky”.
May I add that a Stellarium simulation (which I have normally found very accurate) of the view simulated as from the Martian surface at 0800 UT (Earth time) on 31 Jan 2014 shows the sun had then just set, with the Earth’s altitude then 17° approx. If the photograph of Earth was taken 80 minutes later this would have been about 0920 UT when the Earth’s altitude was about 7° – but the Sun’s altitude was then only -6° so the photograph of Earth would have been slightly obscured by the Martian twilight, as shown. The Earth itself set at about 1025 UT, about an hour later; the apparent diameter of Earth was about 17 seconds of arc.
And may I also quickly mention that your “Astronomical Algorithms” (2005 edition) is never more than an arm’s length away from my desk and is there as I write! Many thanks indeed for your fine and helpful work.
Hello Martians,
I’m happy to live here on the Earth.
Best greetings from a blue spot 😉