Visions of fact or fiction?

The Earth also features in a lot of movies, art and games. In these products the visuals are designed to look believable, or just plain cool. It should be safe to assume that the artists have taken their inspiration and reference from actual satellite imagery. But do they capture what an astronaut actually sees when he or she looks out the window of the Space Shuttle or takes a space walk outside the ISS?

Autobots descend onto Earth in Transformers (2007)

Nuclear missile launch seen from space in Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 (2009)

Commander Shepard watches the Earth burn in the Mass Effect 3 debut trailer

So, how should my photorealistic CG Earth look? A good area worth investigating indeed! ^^