THE WASHINGTON POST – Children can transform cardboard boxes into the most interesting places on Earth. A flap becomes a door. A hole forms a window. A whole world fits within those paper walls.
Humankind remains curious as adults, but the scale of our world expands – a town, continent, ocean, planet, solar system or galaxy. We are the only known species that has travelled from the deepest crevices of the ocean to the edge of the solar system. Discoveries of new aspects of Earth evokes a sense of wonder, like finding a new corner of a childhood playhouse.
Starting as a swirling mixture of gas and dust, Earth now takes up 260 billion cubic miles in space. Millions of plant and animal species thrive on our rocky planet, although we may never know the exact count. It’s impossible to capture all the ways Earth is unique and beautiful, but we picked a few awe-inspiring perspectives, made possible by human ingenuity and curiosity, that remind us why we’re lucky to call Earth our home.
UNDER THE SEA
Mariana Trench, at 12,000 feet below sea level.
Research beyond our home planet captures many people’s attention, but several mysteries linger on Earth.
Humans have travelled to one of those mysterious corners in the Mariana Trench, the deepest-known ocean trench on the planet extending about 36,000 feet deep. In one journey into the trench seven years ago, deep-sea scientists dove 12,000 of those feet to an area known as Enigma Seamount, nicknamed as such because they didn’t know much about it. They identified a stunningly beautiful jellyfish called the hydromedusa, just a preview of the unexplored life on Earth.
PEERING DOWN
Bering Sea, as captured by the Landsat 8 satellite 440 miles above Earth.
High vantage points often reveal large-scale marks on our planet. In this image, green and blue hues off the coast of Alaska swirl around one another like paint running together. These colourful pockets are often blooms of microscopic marine algae called phytoplankton, derived from the Greek words phyto (meaning plant) and plankton (meaning wanderer).
These opaque turquoise waters probably contain trillions of phytoplankton called coccolithophores, which have white calcium-rich shells. Large blooms of algae can be dangerous to other marine life by stealing oxygen and nutrients they may need to live. Certain types of algae can also be toxic to marine and human life.
STARING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Aurora, as captured from the International Space Station 250 miles above Earth.
Occurring usually high above clouds, the aurora, also known as the northern lights in the northern hemisphere, paints the atmosphere with ethereal scenes. Green, red and purple ribbons of light dance across the sky and instill wonder to those who are lucky enough to catch it usually near the polar regions. The aurora can sometimes be obscured to sky watchers on the ground by clouds, but astronauts on the International Space Station can have a front-row seat to aurora activity from above. Their pictures can help improve estimates of the height and length of auroras and related light phenomena.
Folklore describes the origins of the lights in different ways: spirits dancing in heaven, a bridge between Earth and the realm of the gods, or Arctic foxes running through the sky. Now, scientists know the celestial phenomenon is created from solar particles interacting with Earth’s magnetic field, exciting oxygen and nitrogen molecules. As solar activity increases over the next two years, the aurora could more often appear at lower latitudes, including as far south as Arizona.
LOOKING FROM THE LUNAR LANDSCAPE
As captured from 240,000 miles away from Earth.
The farthest point in space that humans have physically travelled is to the moon. After viewing Earth from space, many Apollo-era astronauts discussed a feeling overwhelming emotions: unity, appreciation, a heightened desire to care for our home planet.
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth,” said astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. “I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
Some research, though, shows that you don’t have to go to space to experience that sensation, known as the overview effect, in some capacity. Looking at images of space as well as watching a sunrise or sunset can inspire awe and spirituality.
“It really is that precious blue marble, that beautiful island oasis in the middle of everything else,” said a citizen scientist who has processed thousands of images taken from spacecraft Jason Major. “Even though we’re on Earth, Earth is also in space.”
PHOTOBOMB BY THE MOON
As captured from a spacecraft orbiting one million miles away from Earth.
Four times farther than the orbit of the moon, the Deep Space Climate Observatory captured this unique view of our lunar neighbour passing between the spacecraft and Earth on July 16, 2015.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory is located one million miles away from our planet.
One of the spacecraft’s instruments provides data on streams of charged particles ejected from the sun and sometimes potentially headed toward Earth, which can help forecast the northern lights. At this distance, the onboard camera is also far enough to capture Earth’s entire sunlit surface in a single photograph.
SPOTTED FROM SATURN
As captured from a spacecraft 898 million miles away from Earth.
While capturing a mosaic of Saturn’s entire ring system, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft caught a glimpse of Earth from about 898 million miles away on July 19, 2013. The sun lights up the planet’s icy, dusty rings from behind. The sunlit Earth appears as the brightest blue dot in the lower-right quadrant of the image, under Saturn’s rings.
