NASA Captures Stunning New View of Earth with Spectacular Clarity

First Posted: Jul 20, 2015 04:05 PM EDT

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has captured one of the most epic views yet of our planet, Earth.

The color images of Earth from the camera are generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters. This created a variety of science products.

"The first DSCOVR image of our planet demonstrates the unique and important benefits of Earth observation from space," said Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, in a news release. "As a former astronaut who's been privileged to view the Earth from orbit, I want everyone to be able to see and appreciate our planet as an integrated, interacting system. DSCOVR's observations of Earth, as well as its measurements and early warnings of space weather events caused by the sun, will help every person to monitor the ever-changing Earth, and to understand how our planet fits into its neighborhood in the solar system."

The Earth images show the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the images a characteristic bluish team. Now, the team is working on rendering the images that emphasize land features and remove this atmospheric effect.

The researchers aim to maintain the nation's real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities. These will be critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts.