Scalzi points the way this morning to what he calls “the coolest picture you’ll see today”, and I’ve got to agree: it’s amazing. It’s a shot that was taken back in 2003 by the Mars Global Surveyor space probe, in orbit around the Red Planet. Click here, then click the photo for maximum bigness. You’ll see the half-phase Earth and moon at the top of the photo; scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see Jupiter and three of its moons. That’s the third and fifth planets of our system seen in the same frame, photographed from the fourth planet. And the photo has a high-enough resolution that both planets are easily identifiable, even by a non-astronomer type. With a little digital massaging, you can even tell which hemisphere of our world was turned toward the camera. Beautiful…

If you’re interested in the technical details, go here. But whatever you do, have a look at the photo…