The planet Earth

This item is not so much a “map” as it is a view from space at our “ocean planet,” as it refers. Floating off to the left is a somewhat-diminished picture of the Moon. Again, this is an image that has been made possible by the remarkable exploration that we’ve been able to make of near space and our ability now to turn the cameras in our satellites back on ourselves so we can see this extraordinary planet that we live on. Clouds swirl. Green spaces predominate here and brown spaces there. One sees where the mountains are. One sees even what looks like a cyclone just off the  western coast of Mexico. It really causes one to reflect on the fact that there we are, lost in a black void, a lonely blue planet travelling through the Solar System.