Planet Earth. Southern hemisphere.     Click the planet to enlarge    the area in the red border.

2008 update When this series of diminishing-scale maps was written in 1997 it used the best images available at the time. Technology and access to information have overtaken the concept since then. :-( By far better images can be accessed by using either Google Earth or Google Maps Google Earth provides the nearest thing to the effect I was seeking in '97. Simply cut and paste our coordinates (the blue text below) into their search box: 150°59'45"E 33°49'5"S Google Maps is not as much fun (no flying around the world), but it provides very useful navigation functions. Start up Google Maps and paste our address into their search box: Great Western Hwy & Pitt St Parramatta NSW 2150

Description: This color image of the Earth was obtained by the Galileo spacecraft on Dec. 11, 1990, when the spacecraft was about 1.5 million miles from the Earth. The color composite used images taken through the red, green and violet filters. India is near the top of the picture, and Australia is to the right of center. The white, sunlit continent of Antarctica is below. Picturesque weather fronts are visible in the South Pacific, lower right. 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. © NASA JPL         Australian readers: please excuse American spelling.