Iconic view of the farthest-away picture of Earth, the 'Pale Blue Dot' image of Earth graphic illustration.

The Farthest-Away Pictures of Earth Ever Taken

Space travel has created an opportunity for people to not only see other planets, but also to see Earth differently. There is something special about seeing Earth from a photograph in space. Farther away photographs of Earth serve as a reminder of how small the world is. While the pale blue dot photograph of Earth is one of the most famous, there are now many other photographs showing Earth in space. Explore the farthest-away pictures of Earth ever taken.

Earth and the Moon

Earth in the top right, and the moon in the lower left — From 804,000 miles away, NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft captures the Earth and moon, September 25, 2017. Image credit NASA on The Commons via Flickr

The image of Earth and moon was taken from 804,000 miles away by NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft. From the image, you can still Earth's marble form, a mix of blue and green. The earth and moon are around a quarter million miles apart in this photo. NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft traveled to the rubbly asteroid Bennu to gather a sample. The mission was a success, and the spacecraft snapped the image of the moon and Earth on its way into deeper space.

The Pale Blue Dot

Picture of small blue dot is Earth taken by Voyager 1 — The "small blue dot" is Earth taken by Voyager 1. Image credit Voyager 1, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most famous photographs ever taken of Earth is the Pale Blue Dot. The photo dates back to February 14th, 1990, by NASA's Voyager 1. Voyager 1 was on its way out of the solar system, past Neptune, at 3.7 billion miles from the sun at the time of the photo. The mission managers commanded Voyager to look towards Earth one last time before it headed any further. As it looked back, Voyager snapped 60 images, including the Pale Blue Dot image. Earth is so small in the photo that it is nearly the size of one pixel.

Earth From Mars

This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon.

It's rare to get a photograph of Earth from a planet besides the moon. However, NASA's Spirit Rover snapped a historic photo of Earth in 2004. The rover explored the Martian planet for six years and gained fame for capturing the first image of Earth from the surface of a planet that wasn't the moon. In the photograph, you can see the Martian landscape. There are rolling hills below, and Earth faintly appears in the sky.

Earth From Mercury

MESSENGER was at a distance of 98 million kilometers (61 million miles) from Earth when this picture was taken of Earth and the Moon. Image credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There is another photo today of what Earth looks like from a planet closer to the sun. While not many spacecrafts visit Mercury, in 2013, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft did. The spacecraft captured an image of Earth and the moon from 61 million miles away. The goal of the mission was to look for small moons around Mercury, and the photograph was an added bonus. Since the Earth and moon can be dark and hard to see at 61 million miles away, MESSENGER took a long exposure of Earth. This made Earth and the moon appear exceptionally bright and large. However, both are still very small in the picture at less than a pixel in size.

Earth Beyond Saturn

Rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame — July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth. Image credit NASA/JPL/SSI/CICLOPS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most stunning far-away photos captured of Earth is a photo beyond Saturn. In 2013 NASA's Cassini spacecraft snapped an amazing photo of Earth just beyond the rings of Saturn at a distance of under 900 million miles away. Earth's rich blue color is particularly visible in the photo. Sunlight scattered on the planet's surface gives Earth its beautiful blue sky. The rare image used a special wide-angle camera lens on Cassini's spacecraft. This is a special photo since it is the only wide-angle footprint that has the Earth-moon system in it.

The Farthest Picture Of EarthHumanity has only had the ability to photograph the entire Earth from space since the late 1950s. Before then, no one had seen the Earth from space.

Final Thoughts

Today, there are photos of Earth from millions and billions of miles away. This is an amazing feat, unimaginable a century ago. As space travel and technology continue to advance, humans will figure out how to take photos of Earth further and further away. Seeing these photos is a reminder of how small the planet is in the vastness of the galaxy.

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