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300 Miles High is a collection of one hundred of the best photographs of our planet taken from the vantage point of a typical Space Shuttle orbit - about 300 miles above the Earth's surface. To give credit where it is due, all these images come from NASA, which allows free reproduction for non-profit enterprises. Further credit goes to the many astronauts who actually framed and photographed many of these amazing images. Some were taken remotely, others by automatic cameras mounted on the Shuttle or the International Space Station. Nearly all are true color images, only a few have infrared coloring (green foliage looks reddish-pink). At the bottom of this page is a list of further links to imagery of the Earth taken from off-planet. As you may see, the many fractured departments of NASA do not present a common (or even similar) face to the web, and the user experiences at these sites vary greatly. They have a star rating (5 stars is best), based on overall experience.
Viewing Hints Do yourself a favor and take your time with these images if you wish to truly enjoy them. So much content on the web is created to be glanced at, glossed over, or skimmed for bits that may be interesting. There are no ads here, and navigation is minimal so there is nearly nothing to consciously block out while viewing. If you can make your browser go "full-screen", do so - you'll get the full effect for some of the larger images. (And yes, this collection has some rather large images, so patience is a virtue for those of you on slower connections). The photographs are presented as-is, without any titles, reference to latitude, longitude, dates, or place names. This collection is intended to be appreciated for the simple, often stunning, beauty that is found in our everyday world - only seen from an unusual viewpoint. For those who are interested in more details, you will appreciate the links listed below - NASA rarely posts an image without an accompanying barrage of meta-information. Lingering over these images is also rewarding when you let yourself go - imagine yourself in the place of the photographer, hurtling at 50,000 miles per hour, looking down through 300 miles of atmosphere. While compiling this collection, candidates were chosen that simply caught one's eye. The final list is made up of those eye-catchers that exhibited some depth. Favorites include an amazing image of a frozen mountainous coastline at sunset, an image that contains so much more detail than a simple interesting cloud, a colorful, massive dust storm, and a pair of amazing images of an erupting volcano [1][2]. One marvels at this image of the Space Shuttle, as seen from the International Space Station - such clarity in the image, and nearly 250 miles of air between the shuttle in the foreground and the coastline below it. Enough written descriptions - the point of this is to let the imagery speak for itself, so go - enjoy, and by all means, dim the lights, take your time, and let your thoughts wander where they may.
NASA sites:
Earth from Space *****
NASA's Visible Earth ****
Terra, NASA's Earth Observing System ***
JPL's earth images collection ***
NASA's Earth Sciences Pictures ***
NASA's overall Photo Gallery ****
NASA's space science Photo Gallery **
NASA's Human Spaceflight gallery ****
NASA's Planetary Photojournal - Earth Section ***
Space.com's EarthRise ***
EarthKAM ***
SpaceRef.com's Gallery ***
Space Imaging (image store) ***
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