NASA posts clear Earth‑curvature image
NASA released an image showing Earth’s curvature that social posts say directly counters flat‑Earth claims, with that visual being widely shared and discussed online. (x.com)
A clear curve in Earth’s horizon is back in wide circulation after NASA published a new April 2026 image from the Artemis II mission. (nasa.gov) NASA said the Artemis II crew captured the “Earthset” view on April 6, 2026, while flying around the Moon’s far side, and the agency published it on April 7. The image shows Earth dropping behind the lunar horizon, echoing Apollo 8’s 1968 “Earthrise” photograph. (nasa.gov) The basic geometry is simple: from far enough away, a round planet shows a curved edge. NASA said astronauts have been photographing Earth as a sphere since the start of the space age, and it now uses those observations in space geodesy, the measurement system behind precise positioning and navigation. (nasa.gov) NASA’s newer Earth photos do not come from a single source. The International Space Station circles at about 400 kilometers, or 250 miles, above Earth every 90 minutes, and NASA said crews there have taken more than 3.5 million photographs of the planet. (nasa.gov) Many of those station images are shot through the Cupola, a seven-window observation dome NASA calls the station’s “window to the world.” NASA said astronauts use it both for robotics work and for photographing Earth below. (nasa.gov) NASA’s image archive has long described the curve directly in some of those pictures. In one May 2010 International Space Station sunset image over the Indian Ocean, NASA’s caption says “the Earth’s curvature is visible along the horizon line, or limb.” (eol.jsc.nasa.gov) Flat-Earth groups have not stopped arguing over such images. Posts on The Flat Earth Society forum have said curvature in space photos can be a lens effect or too slight to prove anything on its own. (theflatearthsociety.org, theflatearthsociety.org) NASA’s position is broader than any one viral frame. The agency points to centuries of observations, from changing star positions and Sun shadows to modern orbital photography, all describing Earth as a sphere rather than a flat plane. (nasa.gov) The new image does not settle an internet argument by itself. It adds one more official photograph to a record NASA has been building for decades, with Earth’s curved edge visible from orbit, from the Moon, and across millions of images in between. (nasa.gov, nasa.gov)
