Greetings, fellow explorers,
After looking at distant galaxies, there is something grounding about returning to a picture of Earth. We recognize the subject immediately, yet the viewpoint remains outside ordinary experience. Home becomes a shape we can take in at a glance.
The Suomi NPP Blue Marble has that effect on me. My eye moves between the familiar outlines of land and the clouds that make the planet feel alive with weather.
How this Blue Marble was made
This 2012 image is a composite assembled from observations by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS, aboard the Suomi NPP satellite. The data came from multiple swaths of Earth’s surface observed on January 4, 2012.
It is not a single photograph taken from far enough away to fit the whole planet into one frame. The broad view was constructed from satellite observations, allowing us to see those measurements together as a globe.
That distinction is part of the image’s story. Understanding how a picture was made helps us appreciate what it shows. Here, a sequence of observations becomes a view that would be difficult to grasp in separate strips.
A viewpoint chosen with care
NASA oceanographer Norman Kuring created the composite. In describing the process, he explained that the apparent viewing distance helped place troublesome sun glint in the Southern Hemisphere and Arctic darkness beyond the horizon.
There is thought behind the viewpoint as well as the data. The result draws our attention to the planet’s surface and its patterns, with enough distance to let the whole composition settle into place.
Try beginning with an area you recognize, then letting your eye follow the ocean beyond it. It is a small shift in attention, but it can change the feeling of the picture.
A familiar world, seen differently
I would place this image somewhere that invites a pause. It has the clarity to work across a room and the familiarity to start a conversation without explanation.
Our Blue Marble Earth — Suomi NPP print brings that view of home into everyday surroundings.
There is room in a space collection for places we may never visit. There is also room for the place we already share, seen from a perspective we rarely get to have.
Clear skies,
D.R. Skywalker
Image credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring.
Sources: NASA — Blue Marble, 2012; NASA — Norman Kuring and the Blue Marble.