Blue Marble

[gfish]

This is the "Blue Marble" picture, taken from Apollo 17 outbound to the final lunar landing in 1972. It's one of the most famous pictures ever taken. It's beautiful and stunning -- and I'm a little bit sick of it.

Its omnipresence is a little overwhelming once you start to look for it, like the space photography equivalent of Helvetica. The way it gets used, you'd think it was the only picture of the Earth we have from space. (It is one of the few where the visible hemisphere is entirely lit, admittedly.) Which is a shame, because there are so many stunning pictures of the Earth that never get used. This grand image, this relic of the greatest adventure our species has ever undertaken, has been reduced to little more than a generic representation of Earthiness. The JPEG compression should just output '⊕'.

I beg you: if you need an image of the Earth, explore the NASA archives a bit. Don't just take the first Google Image result.

Comments

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

I tend to prefer the ones where it's NOT fully illuminated, honestly.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. Looks less flat.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Because I'm curious... it's only the third result using Google Images in the co.uk incarnation.

I'm actually fairly unfamiliar with the image you've used here - it's not something that I recognise instantly as Apollo 17, or 1972, or an iconic image of the Earth, or anything like that. (I mean, I know it's the Earth. That goes without saying. I don't think "oh, that photo again" because from my perspective it's not yet over-used.)

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

I don't know about you, but it seems to evoke more of a sense of wonder to me, as well.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Just wait. Now that I've pointed it out, you'll see it everywhere. :)

Seriously, I'd say it's used about 90% of the time you see a picture of Earth.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

My pet peeve is this photo of the moon (and similar ones also from Apollo 11):



About half of this image is the near side of the moon, yet it is frequently used to represent the moon as seen from Earth. Keep an eye out for this pattern of maria--it's not what you see in the sky, but I see it in the media all the time.

[woggie.livejournal.com]

I always figured the reason that particular Earth shot was used so much was because the Japanese liked it. I mean, after all, isn't that Japan almost dead center?

It might not be. Geography was never my strong suit.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

You jest, right? That island in the middle is Madagascar.

[woggie.livejournal.com]

No, actually, I do not jest. My sense of geography really is that bad.

Thank you for the correction. :)

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

offtopic but I saw this cartoon today (http://www.cartoonbank.com/A-robot-and-a-boy-have-stands-set-up-next-to-each-other-The-robot-sells-lemonade-and-the-boy-w/invt/134696) and thought of you.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

The depressing thing to me is that it is nearly certain no human will ever take a photograph of the Earth again...

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

It's also emblematic of the cliches about space and space travel. It's all zero-gee up there. That space medicine is the biggest reason to keep putting astronauts in harm's way. That it's a pork barrel expenditure that needs to be spread out as many ways as possible.

...and unless it's a human being pulling the trigger on the camera, it's just not the same.

Give me yesterday's picture from the Opportunity rover any day!

[lostmachine.livejournal.com]