Original Caption Released with Image:
This color image of the Earth was obtained by the Galileo spacecraft early Dec. 12, 1990, when the spacecraft was about 1.6 million miles from the Earth. The color composite used images taken through the red, green and violet filters. The Pacific Ocean covers virtually all of the visible disk of the Earth in this picture. The glint of the Sun reflected from smooth water is near the center. This is a frame of the Galileo Earth spin movie, a 500-frame time-lapse motion picture showing a 25-hour period of Earth's rotation and atmospheric dynamics.