A recent photograph of Earth taken from space has sparked numerous questions regarding the appearance of our planet.
When envisioning Earth, a couple of colors likely come to mind first.
One is the color blue, which might seem ironic given that our planet is named ‘Earth’ even though it’s mostly covered in water.
However, it’s the other color that has captured people’s attention and led to a lot of inquiries about the landmasses.
Many would assume the landmasses to be primarily green, as that’s often how they are depicted on maps and visualizations of our planet.
But there was a notable difference that surprised and puzzled people.
So, what was it about this image that left people scratching their heads?
The landmasses appeared less green and more brown than expected.
People took to social media to voice their thoughts on the striking photo.
One user commented, “Way more brown than I expected. North and South America both look like vast deserts.”
Another remarked, “Nowhere near as green as it should be,” while a third said, “Simultaneously more green and more brown than I expected.”
Additionally, one person shared some interesting facts about the photo.
They mentioned, “This particular photo was taken less than 30,000 km away, on the outbound trajectory towards the Moon. Two dozen people have seen a view similar to this. I think Apollo 17 was the only mission that had a view of fully illuminated Earth at any point in their flight.”
Meanwhile, another individual humorously noted, “It’s so wild to think that I am actually in this picture.”
The image itself was captured by the GOES-East Satellite, which provides live images of Earth.
Some were also taken aback by the abundance of clouds covering the planet.
While some cloud cover is expected when viewing Earth from space, the sheer amount present was surprising to many.
One person asked, “Is that amount of cloud coverage normal?”
Another responded, explaining that at any given time, around 67 percent of the Earth is covered by clouds.
Such remarkable photos really highlight the profound questions about our place in the universe.
One person on Reddit reflected, “I can’t fathom standing somewhere and looking at the Earth, yet a dozen people have done so.”