Saturn's Cassini snaps images of Earth -- plus other great views of our planet

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    NASA's Cassini spacecraft, circling Saturn since 2004, pointed its cameras at Earth on July 19. Cassini  is 900 million miles from Earth, yet was able to capture images of both the Earth and the moon using its technology from the 1990s when it lifted off from Earth. Imagine what the images would look like if today's technology was available to it.

    Just taking the images was difficult. Normally from Saturn, Earth appears close to the sun and Cassini's photographic equipment could be damaged by looking at it. But Cassini had moved to a location where the ringed planet blocked out the sun so it was able to snap the portraits.

    Scientists will be working for weeks to assemble a wide-angle image of Earth that will become part of a mosaic of Saturn's rings.

    NASA had publicized this photo opportunity by asking people around the world to wave at Cassini while it was taking images of Earth.

    In this gallery, we'll show you a sample of how our planet looks from various locations around our solar system.

    Image Credit:  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The July 19 images captured both the Earth and the moon from Saturn for the first time.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    One of the first photos of Earth from the first man in space was taken by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin during his orbital flight in April, 1961.

    Photo by: NASA

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    First photos of Earth by an American were taken by Alan Shephard out of his small window during his 15-minute flight in 1961. Shephard shouted, "What a beautiful view!" as he rose into the edge of space.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    John Glenn looked back at Florida during his flight in 1962.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The first picture from the "vicinity of the moon" was taken by Lunar Orbiter I.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The most distant look at Earth is this image taken by Voyager 1 at a distance of nearly 4 billion miles. This image has been called the "Pale Blue Dot" after the title of astronomer Carl Sagan's 1994 book, "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space."

     In the image, Earth is located in a light ray that was the result of taking the picture so close to the sun.

    "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. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." -Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot."

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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     Earth and Jupiter, the two closest planets on either side of Mars, appear in this image taken from orbit over the Red Planet.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Before this week, this image of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft was the most distant view of Earth taken from a planet in our solar system. As in the most recent pictures, Cassini had maneuvered between Saturn and the sun although it rings were still visible. The actual image shows the tiny dot between the rings.

    Here's an enlarged view of the left side of this image showing our planet.

    And here's a much larger view of this image. Click on it to make it even bigger.

    Credit: CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    On its way to Jupiter, the Juno spacecraft captured Earth and the moon in this image taken in August 2011. This image was taken about 6 million miles from Earth. Juno is on its way to Jupiter and should arrive in 2016.

    Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said, "This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely. This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves."

    Photo by: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Today, Earth is constantly monitored by thousands of satellites for both good and evil purposes. Their findings have been invaluable in monitoring natural disasters and predicting patterns. Here's an image of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as it approaches land.

    Photo by: NOAA

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Here's the U.S. at night, taken by Japan's Suomi NPP satellite in 2012.

    Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    While not an actual photograph, NASA uses expertise from its long history or Earth images and study to create this group of images which show the depletion of our ozone layer.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft which has been orbiting and photographing the ringed planet since 2004 set it sights on Earth from 900 million miles away.

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft, circling Saturn since 2004, pointed its cameras at Earth on July 19. Cassini  is 900 million miles from Earth, yet was able to capture images of both the Earth and the moon using its technology from the 1990s when it lifted off from Earth. Imagine what the images would look like if today's technology was available to it.

Just taking the images was difficult. Normally from Saturn, Earth appears close to the sun and Cassini's photographic equipment could be damaged by looking at it. But Cassini had moved to a location where the ringed planet blocked out the sun so it was able to snap the portraits.

Scientists will be working for weeks to assemble a wide-angle image of Earth that will become part of a mosaic of Saturn's rings.

NASA had publicized this photo opportunity by asking people around the world to wave at Cassini while it was taking images of Earth.

In this gallery, we'll show you a sample of how our planet looks from various locations around our solar system.

Image Credit:  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Caption by: Andy Smith

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