The Blue Planet's Beauty Up Close and From Afar

Decades after moon-bound astronauts awed humankind with the first photographs of Earth taken from outer space, a new generation of satellite images are highlighting Earth's exquisite yet precarious beauty.

These photos, taken by some of the dozens of satellites that today tirelessly loop our blue-and-green orb, are from an exhibition, "Earth From Space," at Washington's National Air and Space Museum through Jan. 7. Taken from altitudes ranging from a few hundred miles to thousands of miles high, and in some cases enhanced with faux colors that help scientists distinguish among various plants and landforms, these images reveal in startling detail our planet's natural beauty -- and some of the ways that, for better and worse, we are remodeling the only home we have.

"The data is constantly streaming down," said Andrew Johnston, the Smithsonian Institution geographer who is curator of the exhibit, which will travel to as many as 14 U.S. cities over the next three years -- including a stretch at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Va., April 14 through June 10.

"Just as the Apollo photographs gave us an appreciation of our planet in space," Johnston said, "these pictures can help people observe their place in that world, in their own city or even their neighborhood."

-- Rick Weiss