Rotating Earth from Galileo
			
		
		
		
			When passing Earth on your way to Jupiter, what should you look for?
That question arose for the 
robotic Galileo spacecraft 
that soundlessly coasted past the Solar System's 
most photographed orb almost two decades ago.  
The Galileo spacecraft, although originally 
launched 
from Earth, coasted past its home world twice in an effort to 
gain speed 
and shorten the duration of its trip to 
Jupiter.  
During Galileo's first Earth flyby in late 1990, it made a majestically silent 
home movie of our big blue marble rotating by 
taking images 
almost every minute during a 25-hour period.  
The above picture 
is one frame from this movie -- clicking on this frame will put it in 
motion 
(in many browsers). 
Visible on Earth are vast 
blue oceans, swirling 
white clouds, 
large golden continents, and even 
one continent frozen into a white sheet of water-ice.  
As Galileo passed, it saw a globe that not only rotated but began to recede into the distance.  
Galileo went on to a 
historic mission uncovering many 
secrets and mysteries of Jupiter 
over the next 14 years, before performing a final 
spectacular dive into the 
Jovian atmosphere.