If you are trying to get a "close-up" shot of the sphere, the resolution of the earth map has to be higher than that of the render image, or there will always be pixels showing.

This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy