NASA launched a spacecraft called Messenger in August of 2005. It has captured an amazing time-lapse of our planet while leaving it. The pictures have been recently released to the public.

The NASA spacecraft performed a gravity assist swing-by of our little blue planet in just a year's time after it was launched into space. As an effect, it left Earth and followed its way to Mercury. While leaving our planet, the spacecraft had captured hundreds of stunning photos, which have altogether compiled to make this amazing time-lapse view of Earth.

The collection has 358 photos in all which were taken by the cameras fixed to the Messenger's Mercury Dual Imaging System (or MDIS). The latest image clicked by the spacecraft shows the view of both the Earth and the Moon as two bright dots lying in the lower left from 114 million miles away.

The collection of the time-lapse shows images when Messenger was approx 40,761 miles above South America. The time-lapse clearly shows the Earth going through a full rotation. Altogether, the images make a brilliant
13-second time-lapse showing how the Earth becomes a smaller and smaller ball in the distance.

More information regarding the Mercury explorer and its clicked images can be gathered at the NASA's MESSENGER webpage or the official MESSENGER website.