Earth

Cradle of Life As We Know It

Earth is the only place we know of in the universe that harbors life. Ours is the largest terrestrial planet in the solar system. Our rocky, volcanic world is coated in a thin veneer of liquid water, living things, and translucent atmosphere, whose complicated interactions make Earth's surface into a place of constant change. We humans have only had fifty years of perspective on Earth as a planet, of seeing it as a "pale blue dot" floating in the black vacuum of space.

With that perspective, we know precious and unique our planet is. We know, too, that we are having measurable effects on the complex interactions of ocean, land, life, water, and air, changing our climate. But predicting the future of our climate is hard. Understanding how Earth's systems work by studying the way they operate on other worlds is a major goal of planetary exploration. Mars, Venus, and Titan all have (or had) active geology, hydrology, and weather -- but, as far as we know, they don't have life. Is Earth really that unique? Are we truly alone in the universe? We won't know unless we keep searching.

News from Earth

GOES composite image of Earth's globe with Hurricane Sandy, October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy: Thanks for lives saved already

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/29 11:32 CDT

Today hurricane Sandy is a major threat to life and property across the west coast of the northern Atlantic ocean. I just want to give thanks in advance to all the people who have devoted their careers to making sure that Americans have sufficient warning of devastating, unstoppable weather events like this one.

Shoemaker NEO winner Bob Holmes telescope

Saving the World: Established 1997

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/09/21 01:00 CDT | 2 comments

The Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO grants celebrate their 15th anniversary of helping to find and track near Earth asteroids. Here's a quick review of the program, and updates on our four multiple-grant winners.

Photo by astronaut Don Pettit on Space Station Expedition 31, shortly before his return to Earth, taken on June 30, 2012.

Birth of a New Moon

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/05 12:01 CDT

As astronaut Don Pettit prepared for his return to Earth, he tweeted several beautiful shots from the Space Station.

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Taken by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990 from a distance of more than 6 billion kilometers and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. In the image the Earth is a mere point of light, a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Our planet was caught in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the Sun.

A Pale Blue Dot

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.

Voyager 1's picture of a crescent-shaped Earth and Moon was the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft.

Pictures of Earth by Planetary Spacecraft

Many solar system explorers take dramatic photos of Earth as they depart, or fly by; some even have photographed Earth from the vantage point of another planet.

The Earth from GOES-East in visible and infrared

The state of Earth observation, January 2012

As of November 2011, the Earth Observing Handbook counts 109 active missions to study the Earth as a planet, with 112 more approved and planned for the future. Jason Davis provides an overview of key current and upcoming earth-observing missions.