Suggested Searches

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Earth from Saturn

Explanation: What's that pale blue dot in this image taken from Saturn? Earth . The robotic Cassini spacecraft looked back toward its old home world earlier this month as it orbited Saturn . Using Saturn itself to block the bright Sun , Cassini imaged a faint dot on the right of the above photograph . That dot is expanded on the image inset, where a slight elongation in the direction of Earth's Moon is visible . Vast water oceans make Earth's reflection of sunlight somewhat blue . Earth is home to over six billion humans and over one octillion Prochlorococcus .

Date September 27, 2006
Credit Credit: Cassini Imaging Team , SSI , JPL , ESA , NASA
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.