This photo of Earth was taken by NASA on July 6th 2015 at a distance of one million miles away from Earth. All the images were captured by the camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope.

The photo was generated by combining three different images to create a photographic-quality result with a great level of detail. This is the first photo of Earth completely illuminated by the Sun in 43 years. The original was taken by American astronauts in 1972, during the latest Apollo (17) mission. In this amazing image, we can see the North and Central parts of the American continent and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean islands.

Be sure to follow NASA Goddard on Flickr for more photos and future images of our earthly home.

*Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera