Earth's Beauty: Showcasing a Favorite Photo

[Greg Bernhardt]

Post one of your favorite Earth photos

 

[OmCheeto]

ALMA’s Solitude
5000 metres above sea level in the Chilean Andes​

Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)
ESO = European Southern Observatory

 

[rootone]

The Great Lakes and central United States at night - taken from the ISS by flight engineer Barry Wilmore on 7 December 2014

 

[OmCheeto]

Post one of your favorite Earth photos

View attachment 82353

Weird.
I just moments ago made a new FB friend via a PF friend and her friend posted this on her page in the last couple of weeks:

I am not yet friends with my friend's friend's(who is my new friend) friend.
If that makes any sense.

 

[dipole]

The Great Lakes and central United States at night - taken from the ISS by flight engineer Barry Wilmore on 7 December 2014

You like this photo? I think it's very ugly, and shows the reckless inefficiency and waste of modern light pollution in cities.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Earth=Eart+h
Heart=h+Eart
------------------
Earth=Heart

 

[OmCheeto]

You like this photo? I think it's very ugly, and shows the reckless inefficiency and waste of modern light pollution in cities.

Yah!
And someone should tell these algae to stop doing it too:

reckless little buggers.

hmmm... I wonder if humans might have evolved from these guys.

 

[dipole]

Yah!
And someone should tell these algae to stop doing it too:

View attachment 82495​

reckless little buggers.

hmmm... I wonder if humans might have evolved from these guys.

Difference being we're pouring millions of tons of CO2 and worse forms of pollution into the atmosphere every year, so that we can send a large fraction of the energy we generate for lighting our sidewalks out into space and illuminate an astronauts camera lens. Worse, we're creating instability, conflict and war in Africa and the Middle East where millions of people have died, because we're so eager to buy fossil fuels so that we can continue wasting them.

The tuna are so full of mercury that pregnant women shouldn't eat more than a can a week according to the FDA, we destroy hundreds of miles of coastline with our oil spills, and we poison people's drinking water with the runoff from the collection and processing of these fuels. If everyone had the same attitude as you, soon there wouldn't be any glowing algae left alive for you to make your jokes about. Thankfully some people are able to see a bit farther than their computer screens.

Is light pollution the sole reason we're in such a mess? Definitely not, it's a small part of the problem, but it's an ugly reminder how carefree we let the Earth suffer and bleed for even the slightest bit of extra luxury for ourselves.

 

[OmCheeto]

...for even the slightest bit of extra luxury for ourselves.

Bingo!

My friends have been making fun of me for at least 10 years now, as I seem, to them, I suppose, to be obsessed, with saving the planet.

As an old person, I've discovered, that telling people that they are wrong, just upsets them. I discovered also, that leaving crumb trails, makes those people not think they are wrong, as they think they thought the crumb trails were randomly placed, and the ideas they pick up on the way, are their own.

ps. Please try and stay on topic, and post a pretty Earth picture.

Phil Plait picked the following the other day:

Personally, I liked the B&W image, just a bit more:

[edit] Both images were taken by the Rosetta Spacecraft.

 

[OmCheeto]

This just popped up on Facebook. It's about a 4 hour drive from my house. Never been there.

The Painted Hills near Mitchell, Oregon.

This was on a particular vivid day.
The rain had moistened the ground and made the colors pop under a neutral sky.
A slight luminosity layer increased the contrast and the saturation of the color a bit, but the colors are real.

Looks more like Jupiter, than Earth, to me.
Gary is one of about 5 or 6 photographers I follow.