Week 1: From the Outside Looking In —
Changing Our Perspective of Earth

Before you begin the activities in the online course, please complete the PreCourse Survey

Earth Rise image taken from Apollo 8
Famous image of Earth rising above Moon's limb, captured by the Apollo 8 crew in December of 1968. Image source: Astronomy Picture of the Day. Image credit: NASA and Apollo 8 Crew.



"We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."

—astronaut Bill Anders recalling the Apollo 8 Mission


More than forty years have passed since the Apollo 8 astronauts took this famous photograph of the Earth, yet we continue to be awed and amazed by what we can see and learn about our planet from an "eyes in the sky" perspective. This first week of the course is an introduction to remote sensing and its value for understanding Earth and how it changes over time.



Weekly Goals

  • Understand the basics of remote sensing
  • Learn how remote sensing helps us understand Earth and how it changes over time
  • Become familiar with a variety of sources for getting satellite imagery
  • Become comfortable downloading images from NASA NEO
  • Share your ideas about how the use of NASA satellite data fits into your classroom teaching
  • Provide feedback on what you are learning and the process of learning it

This Week's Tasks

  1. Read background information about remote sensing and explore galleries of images and animations created from remote sensed data.
  2. Find out Dr. Sally Ride's thoughts about remote sensing.
  3. Explore Earth from the perspective of a NASA satellite using Eyes on the Earth 3-D.
  4. Use NASA NEO to download a satellite image that you can use in your teaching.
  5. Contribute to an online discussion centered on using satellite data in your teaching.
  6. Answer the Week 1 Feedback questions.


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