Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Whirling Earth from spinning Samba

Whirling Earth from spinning Samba
Whirling Earth from spinning Samba Samba, one of the four Cluster spacecraft, took this series of images of Earth using its recently reactivated Visual Monitoring Camera on February 18, 2016. The spacecraft spins at 15 rotations per minute, and the VMC is mounted in a position offset from the center of the spin axis, making Earth appear to whirl around in circles. ESA / Cluster / Emily Lakdawalla