Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Earth, Twitter, New Zealand, Nature
Ellie Kemp
A photo of the Earth from a rarely-seen angle has left people freaking out, and honestly? They have a point...
As the US and Europe are both in the northern hemisphere, we're used to seeing our planet with plenty of land.
That's because the majority of Earth's land - around 68 percent - is located there, dominated by continents including, North America, Europe, most of Asia, Africa and parts of South America.
Yet our planet's surface is made up of roughly 71 percent water.
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And one Google Earth photo does a really great job at reminding us of that we really are on a 'blue' planet.
The photo in question shows part of the southern hemisphere we don't ever see - and it's made people a little uneasy.
Twitter user @AMAZlNGNATURE posted the screenshot in question, along with the caption: "The side of planet Earth we aren't used to seeing."
The Pacific Ocean is taking up nearly the entire image - with only a spec of green in site, from New Zealand on the lower left.
The largest and deepest ocean on Earth, it stretches from edge to edge, while a portion of Antarctica - near the bottom of the image - appears bright white due to its icy surface.
The only other spots of white are from cloud formations and weather systems, typical of satellite views, scattered across the ocean.
The oceanic hemisphere - the side of Earth that has the most water and the least land - is made up of approximately 89 percent ocean and 11 percent land.
More land than what the eye can see from that photo does exist, aside from New Zealand and Antarctica.
This includes the Hawaiian Islands Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and other Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian island nations, including French Polynesia and other territories - like Easter Island - and the very edge of the Galápagos Islands (barely within the edge).
Reacting on social media, people were finding the photo pretty unnerving - and I'm right there with them.
"The back of Earth's head is crazy," one shocked X user said, as another agreed: "Feels wrong. I feel like I’m seeing something I shouldn’t."
"Earth should actually be called water," a third commented, as a fourth said: "Proof that most of our planet is still mystery and ocean."
Kiwis were happy to see their own country on the map though, as one replied to the original poster: "Speak for yourself. Hello from New Zealand!"
A second wrote: "Ah finally, a map we’re not left off of for once… a map all to ourselves," as a third person said: "To Pacific Islanders this is the front of earth, not the back."
I suppose it's all about perspective, at the end of the day!