Show Continent Outlines

THEMIS - Visible and IR
Night side of Earth

• These images were taken on April 19 2001 when Odyssey was more than 3,500,000 kilometres from Earth
• The sunlight side of Earth was facing away from Odyssey
• The visible light camera saw only a thin crescent, lit by sunlight
• The infrared camera saw the whole globe of Earth
• The infrared camera's pixels are coarser than the visible light camera's
• Because Earth was so far away, the image is only a few pixels wide
• The coldest part of Earth, Antarctica, appears blue
• Although it was night at the time, the area around Australia was still warm and it appears orange