Scientists discover how Earth might appear to aliens – see pic

Over 10,000 images, obtained through the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite of NASA, were analysed by a group of scientists.

Pic Courtesy: sciencemag.org

A team of scientists have discovered how planet Earth might look like to astronomers living light years away on other planets, basically aliens. According to a report in sciencemag.org, at least 10,000 images of the planet were used for the purpose by the scientists.

The images were obtained by the scientists through the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite of NASA. The satellite is placed at a specific point between Earth and the sun, which enables it to capture images of the portions of the planet that receive daylight.

According to the report, the images were captured during 2016 and 2017, “at 10 specific wavelengths every one or two hours”.

The images were then reduced by the scientists “into a small brightness reading for each wavelength”. The images thus obtained were further analysed on the basis of curves, which were compared and studied against the original ones.

By going through this process, the scientists discovered as to which areas correspond to land and which ones to water. The parameters “most closely related” to land were picked out and “adjusted for the 24-hour rotation of the Earth”.