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RE: What Will Earth Become? [A View Through the Looking Glass]

in #space7 years ago

This photograph, taken by Apollo 17 astronauts on December 7, 1972, shows Earth almost fully illuminated. The astronauts had the Sun behind them when they took the image just over 5 hours after launch. Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No human since has been far enough from Earth to photograph a whole-Earth image such as this, which became known as The Blue Marble. (Source)

I remember it like yesterday.

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Such a powerful image!

You know, when the photograph was taken, the Earth was flipped. People seem to like north at the top - even at the expense of authenticity.

So was there a moment in the history of map-making that made North "Up" and South "Down?" This is fascinating.

In the case of this photograph, the way the astronauts' were holding NASA's 70-millimeter Hasselblad with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens it was capturing south on "top." In presenting the image to the public, prints were turned 180 degrees so that north was on top.