North and South America are visible in this image from Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Have you ever wondered what you would see if you were on Mars looking at the Earth through a small telescope? Now you can find out, thanks to a unique view of our world recently captured by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft currently orbiting the Red Planet.

This first-ever image of its kind not only shows Mother Earth as a tiny alien world in the vast darkness of space, but also includes a view of the giant planet Jupiter and some of its larger moons. The camera aboard MGS photographed both planets in an alignment, as seen in the evening sky of Mars, at 9 a.m. EDT, May 8, 2003.

"From our Mars orbital-camera perspective, we've spent the last six-and-a-half years staring at Mars right in front of us," said Dr. Michael Malin, president and chief scientist of Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), of San Diego, who operates the camera aboard MGS. "Taking this picture allowed us to look up from that work of exploring Mars and take in a more panoramic view. This image gives us a new perspective on that neighborhood, one in which we can see our own planet as one among many."

The Earth and Moon. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The image of Earth actually shows our home as a planetary disk, in a "half-Earth" phase. The image has been specially processed to allow both Earth and the much darker Moon to be visible together. The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America.

The image also shows the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon, since the Moon was on the far side of Earth as viewed from Mars. The slightly lighter tone of the lower portion of the image of the Moon results from the large and conspicuous ray system associated with the crater Tycho.

The image also shows Jupiter and three of the four Galilean satellites: Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa. At the time, Jupiter's giant red spot had rotated out of view, and, the other so-called Galilean satellite, Io, was behind Jupiter as seen from Mars. This image has been specially processed to show both Jupiter and its satellites, since Jupiter was much brighter than the three satellites.

Jupiter and its moon Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems See full image here

Mars Global Surveyor, one of the most successful missions to Mars ever undertaken, has been orbiting the red planet since September 1997. The mission has examined the entire martian surface and provided a wealth of information, including some stunning high-resolution imagery, about the planet's atmosphere and interior.

Evaluation of landing sites for NASA's two Mars Exploration Rover missions and the British Beagle 2 lander mission has relied heavily on mineral mapping, detailed imagery and topographic measurements by MGS. NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers and the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission, which carries the Beagle 2 mission, are due to launch this summer and arrive at Mars starting late December 2003 through January 2004.

Alignment of Earth and Jupiter as seen from Mars on May 8, 2003. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, which developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the Mars Orbiter Camera, and MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, Calif.