Central Gallery

Whole Earth (Blue Marble 2000)

Whole Earth. Composite satellite image of Earth centred on the Americas. This is Blue Marble 2000, one of the most detailed Earth images ever made. It was done to update the original "blue marble" images taken by Apollo astronauts. It is the result of the combination of data from three Earth-observing satellites. A GOES satellite took the overall Earth image, SeaWiFS gathered ocean colour data and the AVHRR instruments on POES satellites mapped the vegetation. Hurricane Linda, a huge spiral storm system, is at centre left. Relief features have been exaggerated by 50 times. The Moon (upper left) has been superimposed on the image, and is not to scale.

© NASA/GSFC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

London and the Thames, 18th century

London and the Thames, 18th century. This view looks westwards through London, over sailing ships on the River Thames. Prominent landmarks include St Paul's Cathedral (centre), Westminster Abbey (upper left), the Monument to the Great Fire of London (centre right) and the Tower of London (lower right). This artwork was produced circa 1760 by the printing company Bowles and Carver. An earlier artwork of 1751 by Thomas Bowles shows houses on Old London Bridge (foreground), not present in this artwork. These houses were removed in the period 17581762. The other two bridges, since replaced by modern bridges, are: Putney Bridge (opened 1729) and Westminster Bridge (opened 1740).

© MIRIAM AND IRA D. WALLACH DIVISION OF ART, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS/NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

USN - CIA - Republic of China Air Force Lockheed EP-3B

United States Navy / Central Intelligence Agency / Republic of China Air Force Lockheed EP-3A 149673 (msn 185-5014). Built as a Lockheed P-3A-15-LO Orion, 149673 was converted to EP-3A for the Central Intelligence Agency to use in overflights of the Peoples Reublic of China (PRC). As well as ELINT and SIGINT electronics 149673, (and the two similar Black P-3As), was fitted with low-noise cropped propeller blades, extended engine exhaust to reduce noise and infra-red signature and rearwards-firing AIM-9 Sidewinder Air to Air missiles, for defence. Black P-3A: Least known of all in the P-3 family. Three P-3As (BuNo 149669, BuNo 149673, and BuNo 149678) were obtained by the CIA from the US Navy under Project STSPIN in May 1963, as the replacement aircraft for CIAs own covert operation fleet of RB-69A/P2V-7Us. Converted by Aerosystems Division of LTV at Greenville, Texas, the three P-3As were simply known as .lack P-3As under Project Axial. Officially transferred from US Navy to CIA in June/July 1964. LTV Aerosystems converted the three aircraft to be both ELINT and COMINT platforms. The first of the three .lack P-3As arrived in Taiwan and were officially transferred to ROCAFs top secret Black Bat Squadron on June 22, 1966. Armed with 4 Sidewinder short range AAM missiles for self-defense, the three .lack P-3As flew peripheral missions along the China coast to collect SIGINT and air samples. When the project was terminated in January 1967, all three .lack P-3As were flown to NAS Alameda, California, for long term storage. Two of the three aircraft (BuNo 149669 and BuNo 149678) were converted into the only two EP-3Bs in existence by Lockheed at Burbank in September 1967, while the third aircraft (149673) was converted by Lockheed in 1969-1970 to serve as a development aircraft for various electronic programs. Date: circa 1967

© (c) The Peter Butt Aviation Collection / Mary Evans Picture Library