ON Dec. 24, 1968, US astronaut William Anders photographed the Earth with an analog camera as the Apollo 8 spacecraft emerged from behind the far side of the moon. 'Earthrise' is probably the most influential environmental photograph ever taken. Anders said, 'We came all this way to discover the Moon. And what we really did discover is Earth.'

The photo showed a round planet with predominantly green and blue color but with visible patches of brown in Africa and a few other continents. Almost 55 years later, one can predict that more brown areas would probably appear if new photos were taken from the same vantage point.