Hey Folks, here’s one of my latest. This is a Cycles Render, 256 passes. Textures are from NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation with fairly heavy modification to the landmass (for color) and cloud textures (for volume). Text was added in Photoshop.
Very nice work, would you mind sharing the blend file?
Yowza! Endikos has got this one locked down.
I know you have full artistic license over your work, but it should be more blue, like this, or even more saturated:
Looking good, add some stars on the background will be even better
i disagree with spacetug… it looks great as it is… blue looks unrealistic
Um, maybe you didn’t know, but the blue marble images that nasa puts out are not false-colored, but the color is modified. They are not photographs. If you want realistic, look at photos taken from the space shuttle: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=976&q=earth&gbv=2&oq=earth&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=9934l12198l0l12446l5l5l0l1l1l0l191l600l0.4l4l0#hl=en&gbv=2&pws=0&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=earth+from+space+shuttle&oq=earth+from+space+shuttle&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2g-mS3&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=12152l13094l0l13318l7l7l0l0l0l0l273l1346l0.5.2l7l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ceed0e603f7afd59&biw=1920&bih=976
Thanks for the feedback folks 
I probably could go just a little brighter and a little more blue, but not too much. I was going for something along these lines, shot from the International Space Station in 2003: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/images/EO/highres/ISS007/ISS007-E-10807.JPG
I like the same spacetug and endikos images. Endikos has a powerful effect as it is, and it is much much better Earth image than the CG renders NASA does like the Blue Marble (absolutely horrorous, like a child illustration, not photographic). Endikos image is photographic and beautifull.
Sheesh, Endikos, that’s lovely! Possibly the best Cycles Earth render I’ve seen. Hey, throw this in “A Cycles Museum”, would you?
Well, I have to side a little more on the side of space tug on this one. Regardless, if you’re going for a picture from the space station, I’d make the camera closer to the earth, because the space station is (relatively) low in orbit.
Wow! How did you do the clouds?