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.
2006 September 27
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.
2006 September 27
Explanation:What's that pale blue dot in this image taken from Saturn?Earth. Therobotic Cassini spacecraft looked back toward its old home world earlier this month as it orbitedSaturn. Using Saturn itself to block thebright Sun, Cassini imaged a faint dot on the right of theabove photograph. That dot is expanded on the image inset, where a slight elongation in the direction ofEarth's Moon isvisible. Vast water oceans make Earth's reflection of sunlightsomewhat blue. Earth is home toover six billion humans and over oneoctillionProchlorococcus.
Authors & editors:Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.Specific rights apply.
A service of:EUD atNASA /GSFC
&Michigan Tech. U.