A space photo inspired the first Earth Day. I'm in awe of these iconic images of Earth taken from space

The Earthrise photo from Apollo 8 in 1968, cropped — The Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8 in 1968 is largely credited with sparking the first Earth Day (Image credit: NASA)

A photo taken in 1968 by astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 sparked the first-ever Earth Day. As I watched the Artemis II send back iconic photos of the blue planet more than 50 years later, I couldn’t help but think of the role that photography is playing in sparking both awe and respect for our planet.

The camera allows humans who never leave the Earth's atmosphere to view our planet in its entirety – and the impact has not been small. The iconic Earthrise from 1968 inspired the first Earth Day in 1970. Two years later, Apollo 17 astronauts would take what’s widely known as the first ever clear color photo of Earth in its entirety to be taken by a human, an infamous photo known as the Blue Marble.

The Iconic Blue Marble photo of Earth — The Blue Marble is one of the most iconic space photos of Earth, taken in 1972 (Image credit: NASA)

Inspired by the role photographs have played in space history, I dove through the NASA archives to find the most iconic photographs of Earth, both modern and historic.

The Earth and Moon in matching crescents

This picture of a crescent-shaped Earth and Moon -- the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft -- was recorded Sept. 18, 1977, by NASA's Voyager 1 — (Image credit: NASA / JPL)

This 1977 image was one of the earliest photos taken by an unmanned spacecraft to show both the Earth and Moon in crescent shapes. NASA says the Voyager 1 was around 7.25 million miles away when it captured this image.

The Black Marble

The Blue Marble photograph is iconic – but this image captured by the Suomi NPP satellite in 2012 showcases the planet in darkness.

Looking at the Earth in the dark can offer insight into light pollution, while the absence of city lights makes remote locations more prominent. NASA says that the satellite used the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, which detects multiple types of light and then can filter specific ones out – this shot has auroras, moonlight, fires, and other stray sources filtered out to show manmade light.

One of the most detailed photos of Earth

Behold one of the more stunningly detailed images of the Earth yet created. This Blue Marble Earth montage, created from photographs taken by the VIIRS — (Image credit: NASA / JPL)

When NASA shared this image in 2012, they described it as “one of the more detailed images of the Earth yet created.” But where does that added detail come from?

The photo is actually a montage built from both visible light and infrared images taken by the Suomi NPP satellite. The combination of those light ranges creates a strikingly detailed portrait of Earth.

The Earth with two auroras

A view of Earth from Artemis II with the northern and south lights at each pole — (Image credit: NASA / Reid Wiseman)

The iconic Blue Marble photo, taken in 1977, captured the sunny side of Earth. But one of the first images sent back from the Artemis II crew was a full view of the Earth at night. The view shows auroras at both poles, while the blue tint on the bottom right is actually reflected moonlight. Because this is from the night side of Earth, the photographer had to use a 1/4 second shutter speed and ISO 51200 in order to get the exposure light enough to also see the details of the clouds, oceans, and continents.

A sunrise from space

The sunrise viewed from the International Space Station — (Image credit: NASA / Alex Gerst / JSC)

The International Space Station sees 16 sunrises each day thanks to its orbit speed. This image from 2014 by the Expedition Crew shows the sun lighting up the blue curve of the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Aurora Australis captured on 35mm film

This 35mm frame represents one of the more spectacular views of Aurora Australis, photographed by the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the eight-day Spacelab-J mission. — (Image credit: NASA / JSC)

This shot of the Aurora Australis – or southern lights – was captured on 35mm film in 1992. The crew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour described this view as one of the more spectacular sights of the aurora during the eight-day mission.

The circle of an aurora from space

The IMAGE satellite captured this view of the aurora australis (southern lights) on September 11, 2005, four days after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma — (Image credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio)

On Earth, I’m always in awe of the way the aurora curves across the night sky. But this image from 2005 shows the full ring of the Aurora Australis. The image was created by overlaying an ultraviolet image over a Blue Marble image, with both images taken by satellites.

The Earth and Moon from Galileo

During its flight, NASA's Galileo spacecraft returned images of the Earth and Moon. Separate images of the Earth and Moon were combined to generate this view. — (Image credit: NASA / JPL / USGS)

Captured by the Galileo spacecraft in 1998, this image is a composite made from two separate images that highlight imaging space tech from the 1990s.

This is what the Earth would look like from a telescope on Mars

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera would make a great backyard telescope for viewing Mars, and we can also use it at Mars to view other planets — (Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

Many humans have directed their telescopes and astrophotography kits towards Mars, but if the roles were reversed, this is what the Earth and Moon would look like from the red planet, according to NASA. This image was captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment HiRISE camera taken in 2007.

…and this is what the Earth looks like from 114 Million miles away

Earth and Moon from 114 Million Miles — (Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington)

This 2010 photograph creates a sense of just how small Earth is compared to the rest of space. NASA says the two bright spots in the bottom left corner are the Earth and Moon from 114 million miles away.

…and 3.7 billion miles away

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA&rsquo;s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles — (Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech)

But perhaps the most iconic tiny dot Earth photo is the Pale Blue Dot from 1990, taken by NASA’s Voyager. Earth is just a tiny spec – only about one pixel – inside a stray sun ray.