Say cheese, earthlings! Shots of our planet from space

16:27 18 July 2013

Don't forget to look up and wave. Starting at 9.27 pm GMT on Friday, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will spend 15 minutes taking your photo from the far side of Saturn. The Cassini team is giving advanced warning so that earthlings can revel in the moment. "It will be a day for all of us to smile and celebrate life on the Pale Blue Dot," they write. To mark the occasion, here are our favourite portraits of Earth from space ? back in the days when no one knew they were being snapped. Lisa Grossman

Image 1 of 9

Spot the dot

Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, taking stunning images of the gas giant and its rings and moons. In 2006, the spacecraft made this mosaic of photos backlit by the sun. With Saturn blocking the sun's glare, Cassini was able to reveal previously unknown faint rings ? and the Earth, which you can just make out as a faint white speck on the left-hand side.

(Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2ed857fc/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cgallery0Cearth0Efrom0Espace0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

university of texas UT Austin Lizzie Velasquez NFL Network att libya twin towers