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The Big Blue Marble

Big Blue Marble

The Big Blue Marble

This picture, taken by one of the crew on Apollo 17, on December 7, 1972, is believed to be the most widely distributed picture ever. It was taken 5 hours and 6 minutes after launch, at an altitude of about 28,000 miles, and shows Africa and Antartica. It is unique because the whole face of the earth is in sunlight. Apollo 17 was the last moon mission, and the last time that a man has been at this altitude to take a picture. The "Deep Space Climate Observatory" is a satelite proposed by Al Gore but not yet launched, which will be positioned at the Earth's L1 Lagranian point, which will give it a continuous, full sunlight, view of the earth, and will take a photograph every 15 minutes. Click on the photo for a larger image.