An artist's conceptio
Reference by: NASA Goddard Space Flight
May 04, 2016   1:49 AM
ts up-down-up shape derives from the very features that make Earth a pale blue dot in the first place: Rayleigh scattering in the bluer portion of the spectrum; some absorption in the greener portion because of the ozone in our atmosphere, which like the oxygen we breathe would not exist without life; and finally red light, again owing to continental reflectance, but also from the Earth's widespread vegetation that reflects strongly in infrared.
ts up-down-up shape derives from the very features that make Earth a pale blue dot in the first place: Rayleigh scattering in the bluer portion of the spectrum; some absorption in the greener portion because of the ozone in our atmosphere, which like the oxygen we breathe would not exist without life; and finally red light, again owing to continental reflectance, but also from the Earth's widespread vegetation that reflects strongly in infrared.