A NASA Probe Just Snapped a Pic of Earth From an Insane 71 Million Miles Away

Shutterstock
Shutterstock

It's always a bit mesmerizing to see photos taken of Earth from outer space. Besides reminding you just how pretty our big ol' Blue Marble is, it's one of those things that stops you in your tracks and makes you go "huh, I'm tiny." Well, get ready to feel like an even smaller blip in the universe, because NASA just released a brand new photo of our planet from an astonishing 71 million miles away.

The new photo, which was snapped by the navigation cam on the probe OSIRIS-REx during its mission to explore the asteroid Bennu, makes Earth look like an itty bitty speck in the vast blackness. In the black and white pic (posted below), you can see our home planet in the lower left corner, with the moon just beside it. The blindingly bright white dot in the foreground is actually just the asteroid Bennu, which has been overexposed. Star nerds will also notice the head of the constellation Hyrdra visible in the lower right corner. 

Courtesy of NASA

This isn't the furthest photo snapped of our planet (that distinction goes to the "Pale Blue Dot" photo taken by the Voyager 1 space probe nearly 30 years ago, from over 3.7 billion miles away), but it's still quite something to take in. We may get even more pics in the subsequent months that the probe will spend exploring and investigating Bennu.

So, next time you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the day to day madness here, maybe pull up this pic to remind yourself just how much it doesn't matter, and that we're all just insignificant bunches of dust floating through the infinite ether. Or... don't.

h/tBGR

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Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.