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Photo AS17-22727 taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts when they were about 18,000 miles from Earth. The whole planet is visible, situated at the bottom of the photo and just to the right of center. The south pole is visible, though mostly covered by white clouds, as is the entirety of Africa and portions of the Middle East. Despite significant land and cloud cover the image deserves the name "Blue Marble," as blue expanses of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans seem to dominate.

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Photo AS17-22727 taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts when they were about 18,000 miles from Earth. The whole planet is visible, situated at the bottom of the photo and just to the right of center. The south pole is visible, though mostly covered by white clouds, as is the entirety of Africa and portions of the Middle East. Despite significant land and cloud cover the image deserves the name "Blue Marble," as blue expanses of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans seem to dominate.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/109/473/713/307/669/801/original/3789b5725577334a.jpeg

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Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 07-Dec-2022 18:11:13 UTC Robert McNees
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The astronauts took several photos of Earth that day. A cropped version of one of them, AS17-22727, became one of the most famous images produced by the US space program.
The image known as "The Blue Marble" shows Earth from a distance of about 18,000 miles. Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the South Pole are all visible, as well as parts of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
#Apollo50 #TheBlueMarble

In conversation Wednesday, 07-Dec-2022 18:11:13 UTC from mastodon.social permalink