Gallery | My Favorite Planet Pics | Earth
There's nothing like a home picture, is there? This remarkable shot was taken by the European Space Agency's probe Rosetta, which will rendezvous with a comet in 2014. It needed a little gravitational assist to get there, so it swung by the Earth three times (and Mars once). When it was still over 600,000 km (360,000 miles) from Earth on the third pass in November 2009, it snapped this incredible picture of our home planet. It was still approaching at the time, coming in from an angle that made the Earth appear to be a thin crescent.
At closest approach, Rosetta skimmed the Earth at a distance of just 6000 km (3600 miles) above the surface! Close enough to feel the breeze from it... if it weren't for that whole "vacuum of space" stuff. As it was, the spacecraft accelerated by about 13 km/sec (8 miles/sec), enough to boost it on its way to meet up with a comet. When it arrives, it will deploy a lander that will touch down on the surface of the comet and study it up close and personal, giving us our best view yet of these objects.
Related post: Rosetta Takes some home pictures
Credit: ESA © 2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / RSSD / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA
