This gorgeous image of a blue arc of the Earth against the blackness of space was captured by the Rosetta spacecraft as it swung by our planet.

The European Space Agency mission is on its way to intercept the comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The ship will deploy a lander onto the comet's surface, the first such attempt to be made.

To gather up the necessary energy to reach the comet out past Mars' orbit, Rosetta needed three swings past Earth. This is its third and final flyby. It will reach the comet in early 2014.

Unlike the most famous pictures of Earth, which show most of the blue marble, this photo presents a planet in darkness, just the South Pole awash in light.

*Image: ESA. High-resolution image of planet Earth from Rosetta. *

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