Image courtesy NASA Johnson Space Center

In celebration of Earth Day we bring you this awesome photo of the fifth largest planet taken December 7, 1972. This view is as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon and the photo extends extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap.  Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is the Malagasy Republic. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast.

You can see more photos of the ever-deteriorating Earth (kidding!) on NASA’s Visible Earth site.