A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite gives its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away
"This color image of Earth was taken by NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope. The image was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images," editor Karen Northon wrote on NASA's website.
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NASA released the photo on Monday, which is exactly 46 years after man first landed on the moon. Buzz Aldrin reflected on what this technology could mean for the future of space travel in a blog post.
"DSCOVR offers us a vantage point view – for all of us — of our beautiful Earth, as well as becoming part of a neighborhood watch program that looks for harmful solar activity," he wrote.
The image was taken July 6, 2015, showing North and Central America. The central turquoise areas are shallow seas around the Caribbean islands.
Northon explains the Earth image shows the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the image a characteristic bluish tint. The EPIC team is working to remove this atmospheric effect from subsequent images.
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