

NASA Releases Images of Earth by Distant Spacecraft - adamio
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-229

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pavanred
I have very little knowledge about this, how much post processing would go
into a picture like this one, if any? I presume there's effort put into
highlighting the Earth because I find it hard to believe that Earth would be
even be visible as a dot from that distance.

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mturmon
Saturn, with 10x the diameter of Earth, is visible as a faint disk from Earth,
without a telescope, and with atmosphere in the way. Saturn's moon Titan, 40%
of the diameter of Earth, is visible with a small telescope.

I think the integration time for the image was around 20 minutes.

Bottom line, I think seeing Earth was no big deal (with the Sun behind
Saturn). The issue with this image was to capture as much fine detail in the
rings as possible.

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craigyk
NASA is worth it just for the pics. Please give them more money.

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tankbot
Agreed! This is so amazing. Something about it makes me smile like I can't
help it. Space always makes me feel small, but in a good way.

Sad bit: "Almost 20,000 people participated..." At first glance that might
seem like a lot until you realize that it's 0.000003% of the population of
this planet. Amazing things like this happen and literally nobody cares.

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trackztar
Participating in what? Looking up and smiling? That's ridiculous.

This was pure hype. Glad you showed yourself.

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syncerr
Can you see, I was waving...

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lifeisstillgood
Catnip for HN.

It's beautiful and so far less ominous than Carl Sagan's pale blue dot.
Instead of being lost in the vastness, we are part of someone else's sky,
connected not alone.

Have as much tax money as you want Science.

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dualogy
> less ominous than Carl Sagan's pale blue dot

Certainly, seeing how all we get to see now is a mere white dot....

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hvs
"I'm crushing you! I'm crushing ..."

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlAvsPvPfg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlAvsPvPfg)

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qrybam
It is beautiful, isn't it?

