Countdown: three, two, one, smile! On July 19, the Cassini spacecraft snapped a shot of Earth from 900 million miles away during its orbit around Saturn, and for the first time in history, humans were prepared to have their pictures taken.

Cassini had taken the photo of Earth as part of a larger series of pictures it is collecting as it orbits Saturn. The Cassini science team is using the series to look at the structures within Saturn’s dusty E ring, formed by the planet’s magnetic field, geyser activities on its moon Enceladus and solar radiation pressure.

Knowing Cassini would take this photo, NASA started a campaign called “Wave at Saturn.” The officials made an announcement to the public that its spacecraft would be taking the image in July. They asked people to go outside during the afternoon and wave toward Saturn’s direction while the picture was being taken. The people responded; more than 1,400 images came from 30 states and 40 different countries via the social networks Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Flickr and Instagram as well as email. NASA then made a collage made from these photos.

“Thanks to all of you, near and far, old and young, who joined the Cassini mission in marking the first time inhabitants of Earth had advance notice that our picture was being taken from interplanetary distances,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “While Earth is too small in the images Cassini obtained to distinguish any individual human beings, the mission has put together this collage so that we can celebrate all your waving hands, uplifted paws, smiling faces and artwork.”

Cassini had taken Earth’s photo back in 2006 and in 2012, but this image was the first one where the spacecraft captured the planet’s natural color. From Cassini’s viewpoint so far away, the Earth is merely about a pixel in size. The scientists who study Saturn’s rings are able to piece together the images by looking through visible-light and at infrared data obtained during the campaign. Scientists are still putting together all the images that Cassini took of the Saturn system, and NASA expects the process to be finished after several more weeks of work.