NASA Releases Images of Earth by Distant Spacecraft | Hacker News Reader

NASA Releases Images of Earth by Distant Spacecraft

jpl.nasa.gov

25 pointsadamio12 comments

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.

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.

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

Let them clear out the dullards that wrecked it first.

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.

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

This was pure hype. Glad you showed yourself.

Can you see, I was waving...

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.

> less ominous than Carl Sagan's pale blue dot

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlAvsPvPfg

"Our impact on the universe is nil"

It is beautiful, isn't it?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com