Camera Obscura

Hundreds of years ago, artists discovered the camera obscura. They noticed that light coming through a keyhole into a dark room casts an inverted image on the wall. They built a camera obscura by setting a lens into a two-foot square box and placing a sheet of glass opposite the opening. Through the camera frame, the artist saw the view which he or she wished to draw. The artist then traced the image reflected on the glass frame. In this way, artists used an early form of a camera picture to give their drawings realistic perspective and detail.

(From a Brief History of Photography, 1600s, Library of Congress)

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth.

Louisville From Space

STS062-091-093 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. March 1994
As part of the border between Indiana and Kentucky, the southwest-flowing Ohio River separates New Albany, Indiana (to the north), and Louisville, Kentucky (to the south). Two concentric beltways loop around the south side of Louisville—Interstate Highway 264, the inner belt, and Interstate Highway 265, the outer belt. Louisville developed as a major urban area as a result of Ohio River waterfalls. Goods shipped via the river had to be unloaded before reaching the falls and carried around the falls, thereby creating a need for workers and services. Today ships use locks to navigate the barrier. The dark features throughout the photograph are areas of hilly, eroded, wooded terrain.