On the first morning of the New Year, NASA captured one of the first images of Earth in 2015.

The photograph, which is focused on the Americas, was part of NASA's celebratory New Year’s message on Twitter:

GOES-East, a weather satellite , captured the image from its position above the Western Hemisphere.

With four current operational satellites, the GOES system provides vital environmental data that informs weather forecasts and storm tracking.

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Images of Earth’s disc may seem mundane today, but when they were first taken more than 40 years ago, the public was entranced.

In 1972, the crew of Apollo 17—the final manned Moon landing—took what is now : “Blue Marble.”

"Blue Marble" covered newspaper front pages worldwide.

(NASA/AFP )

As NBC News reports, the picture, which was taken as the crew approached the Moon, was so striking because previous photographs.

Decades later, NASA released “Blue Marble Next Generation,” meant to capture the original spirit of the “Blue Marble” photograph in modern high-definition.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Earth At Night

This image of the United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. (NASA Earth Observatory)