Earth

Earth, our home planet, is a beautiful blue and white ball when seen from space. The third planet from the Sun, it is the largest of the inner planets. Earth is the only planet known to support life and to have liquid water at the surface. Earth has a substantial atmosphere and magnetic field, both of which are critical for sustaining life on Earth. Earth is the innermost planet in the solar system with a natural satellite – our Moon. Explore our beautiful home planet – unique in our solar system - through the links in this section.

This iconic image of Earth rising above the surface of the <a href="/earth/moons_and_rings.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">Moon</a>, was taken on December 24, 1968 by astronauts on the <a href="/space_missions/apollo8.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">Apollo 8 mission</a>. Apollo 8 was the first <a href="/space_missions/manned.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">manned mission</a> to the Moon, and entered into lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft.<p><small><em> Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>How did life evolve on <a href="/earth/earth.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">Earth</a> during the <a href="/earth/past/Archean.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">Archean</a>, when the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">Sun</a> was about 25% weaker than today? The Earth should have been <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">glaciated</a>, if <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">greenhouse</a> gas concentration was the same as today. <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10798">Researchers</a> studying the <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/isotope.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">isotopic</a> signatures of Earth's early atmosphere in <a href="/earth/geology/rocks_intro.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">rocks</a> from Northern Australia have ruled out high levels of <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/nitrogen_molecular.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">nitrogen</a> as a possible way to increase warming from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">atmospheric</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">carbon dioxide</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Manchester University</em></small></p>March 2012 marks the first anniversary of the 9.0 magnitude <a href="/earth/geology/quake_1.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">earthquake</a>, <a href="/earth/tsunami1.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">tsunami</a>, and resulting nuclear accident in Japan on <a href="/headline_universe/march112011earthquaketsunami.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">11 March 2011</a>. The tsunami did massive damage, wiping out entire villages and killing ~16,000 people, and leading to one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history. This image shows before and after photos of the area north of Sendai, where 10,000 people were lost.<p><small><em>Photos by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?hp">GeoEye/EyeQ</a>.</em></small></p>Greenland's <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>A new study has found that <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/airpollution_intro.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">pollution</a> from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/particulates.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">fine particles</a> in the air - mainly the result of burning coal or <a href="/earth/interior/eruptions.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">volcanic eruptions</a> - can shade <a href="/earth/Life/cnidarian.html&dev=1/images/h/neptune/adaptation.ppsx">corals</a> from sunlight and cool the surrounding water resulting in reduced growth rates. Coral growth rates in the Caribbean were affected by volcanic aerosol emissions in the early 20th century and by aerosol emissions caused by humans in the later 20th century. For more information, see the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_278202_en.html">press release</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Toby Hudson (Wikimedia Commons)</em></small></p>This image is a montage of high resolutions photographs of the Earth taken in January 2012 by the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. The image shows many stunning details of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/earth.html">our home planet</a> - <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/VIIRS_4Jan2012.jpg">particularly at high resolution</a>. The beauty of our planet is obvious from space - our blue <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/overview.html">waters</a>, our white <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a>, and the green from <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Life/life.html">life</a> abundant at the surface.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>

Explore Earth

Earth's Interior and Surface

Earth, the largest and densest rocky planet, was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The Earth's ...Read more

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other gases (1%) that surrounds ...Read more

Magnetosphere

The Earth has a magnetic field with north and south poles. The magnetic field of the Earth ...Read more

Moon

The Earth's one natural satellite, the Moon, is more than one quarter the size of Earth itself ...Read more

Earth's Polar Regions

Do you wonder what Earth's Polar Regions are like? Where do polar bears live? Where do penguins ...Read more

Climate and Global Change

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living ...Read more

Water (The Hydrosphere)

Water is found in many places on Earth including on the surface of the planet, within rocks ...Read more

Life and Ecology (The Biosphere)

What is life? Why is there life on Earth, but not on any other planets in the solar system ...Read more

Natural Hazards

The United Nations estimated that between 1994-2015, there were 6,873 natural disasters worldwide, ...Read more

More about Earth

Historical Events

Full Earth and Space Science    History Calendar (Members only)

Teacher Opportunities

Full Teacher Events Calendar (Educator Members only)

Did you know?

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Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Pleistocene
xPleistocene : The time period between about 10,000 years before present and about 1,650,000 years before present.

Click on the word to find out!

Research Highlights

Gulf Oil Spill: Mississippi River Hydrology May Help Reduce Oil Onshore

The Gulf of Mexico: what role will the Mississippi River play in oil washing ashore and into delta wetlands? One of the spill's greatest environmental threats is to Louisiana's wetlands, scientists believe....Read more


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