21 July 2015 News

“EPIC” Earth from NASA and DSCOVR: Stunning image taken from a million miles away

An amazing new picture of Earth has taken the space community’s breath away.

Captured by a NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), the image shows the entire sunlit side of Earth (picturing North and Central America), and is the first image of its kind to be released by DSCOVR.

The image in question was taken by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), and is actually a combination of three separate images.

The plan is for EPIC to produce a daily series of Earth images, allowing scientists to study daily variations from the entire planet. DSCOVR’s main mission is to maintain real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, in order to produce more accurate and timely space weather alerts from NOAA.

What’s particularly amazing about the image is that it is taken from a million miles away. Launched in February of this year, DSCOVR maintains its position in order to observe both the Sun and the Earth.

Perhaps the most gorgeous element of the first EPIC picture is the turquoise coloring almost dead in the center – that bright color is what the shallow seas around the Caribbean islands look like from far away.

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