NASA satellite camera provides "EPIC" view of Earth 

NASA has released a photograph taken a million miles from Earth by the Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft.

The color images of Earth from NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) are generated by combining three separate images.

The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in the just released Earth images.

They show the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the images a bluish tint. The EPIC team is working on a rendering of the images that emphasizes land features and removes this atmospheric effect.

They hope to release them by September.

The satellite was launched in February.  Data from EPIC will be used to measure ozone and aerosol levels in Earth’s atmosphere.

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earth