Celebrate Earth Day with NASA's Terra Tools and Posters

To celebrate Earth Day (April 22) this year, NASA invites everyone to share views of Earth with the world — and to tack up artists' perspectives of our home planet on their walls.

The agency recently gathered several Earth Day posters on one handy website, allowing people to download artists' impressions of a boat among sea creatures, a person relaxing by a lake and a face artfully made up of plants, among other scenes. 

If you're more interested in real-life images and data, check out NASA's Eyes on the Earth app, which shows where all of the agency's Earth-orbiting satellites are right now. [Earth from Space! NASA's Classic Photos]

To celebrate Earth Day (April 22) 2018, NASA is highlighting a variety of innovative technologies and encouraging the public to use several online tools and the hashtag #NASA4Earth. (Image credit: NASA)

 

Once inspired by such pictures, you can then share your data for Earth science, thanks to some other NASA tools.

Worldview allows anyone using a tablet, laptop or desktop to look at changing views of Earth's surface. You can zoom in to any area of the world and share a GIF showing raging wildfires, tropical storms or whatever else may be happening in that particular spot. 

NASA's free Earth Day 2018 poster uses the words of Carl Sagan to remind us of the beauty of our planet and its place in space. (Image credit: NASA)

And the free GLOBE Observer smartphone app helps the public track the breeding sites and larvae of mosquitoes. The aim is to help prevent the spread of Zika and other diseases that mosquitoes transmit to humans, NASA officials said.

NASA also is participating in Earth Day Houston, an event held Sunday (April 22) from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. CDT at Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney St. in Houston. NASA describes this as "a citywide event featuring displays, exhibits and talks on topics ranging from alternative energy to recycling methods." There will be virtual reality goggles showing the International Space Station (a vantage point from which astronauts and scientific instruments observe the Earth). And scientists will be on hand talking about the importance of Earth imagery to the environment, NASA officials said.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace