NASA has just released this remarkable image of our Earth. And like most images of our planet taken from space, it really does give us the feeling of just how precious and fragile our place in the solar system really is. During a recent calibration exercise, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this breath-taking view of Earth and its moon from a distance of 205 million kilometers. It is so clear that even the planet's continents can be made out.

The particular camera used to take this picture is so powerful that it can resolve features as small as 1 meter across on the Martian surface from its position 250 to 300 kilometres above the planet's surface.

"The combined view retains the correct positions and sizes of the two bodies (Earth and the moon) relative to each other," NASA officials wrote in a description of the image, which was released on January 6. "The distance between Earth and the moon is about 30 times the diameter of Earth," they added. "Earth and the moon appear closer than they actually are in this image because the observation was planned for a time at which the moon was almost directly behind Earth, from Mars' point of view, to see the Earth-facing side of the moon."

The just-released image is sharp enough to show up continent-size details on Earth. For example the brownish patch in the centre of the planet is Australia, NASA officials said. Not only are the oceans and continents clearly visible, but the features at the top left corner are bits of Southeast Asia. The bright patch at the bottom of Earth is Antarctica, and the other bright areas are clouds.