Mr. clipka,

Thank you for your detailed and useful advice.
Here's the new code I rewrote:

// sunlight
light_source {
 <100, 0, 40>
 color White*100
 parallel
 fade_distance 10
 fade_power 2
 point_at <0, 0, 0>
}

// Earth
sphere {
    <0, 0, 0>, 3.5
    texture {
        pigment {
      image_map {
                jpeg "textures/earth.jpg"
                map_type 1
            }
        }

        finish {
            emission 0.001
            diffuse 0.5
        }

        rotate y*-135
        rotate x*35
    }
    // rotation
    rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
}

// Earth clouds
difference {
 sphere { <0, 0, 0>, 3.51 }
 sphere { <0, 0, 0>, 3.5 }

 material {
  texture {
   pigment {
    image_map{
     png "textures/earth_cloud.png"
     map_type 1
    }
   }
  }
 }

 hollow on
}

// Earth scattering
difference {
  sphere { <0, 0, 0>, 3.54 }
  sphere { <0, 0, 0>, 3.5 }

  material {
   texture{
   pigment { rgbt 1 }
   }

   interior {
        media {
             scattering {
        5
        color White
        eccentricity 0.56
             }

          density {
         spherical density_map {
    [ 0.0  rgb 0.0 ]
          [ 0.5294*0.25e-6  rgb <0.02, 0.05, 0.2>*0.07 ]
          [ 0.5294*0.4e-6   rgb <0.02, 0.07, 0.3>*0.32 ]
          [ 0.5294*0.5e-6   rgb <0.08, 0.18, 0.4>*0.5 ]
          [ 0.5412*0.6e-6   rgb <0.08, 0.18, 0.4>*0.9 ]
          [ 0.5471*0.65e-6  rgb <0.08, 0.18, 0.4>*1.5 ]
          [ 0.5471*0.675e-6 rgb <0.08, 0.18, 0.4>*4.5 ]
          [ 0.5471*0.71e-6  rgb <0.08, 0.18, 0.4>*12 ]
         }
  scale 3.54
          }
      }
   }
  }

  hollow on
}


And here I attach the brand new rendered image, with clouds added on the
surface.
Thank you very much for your advice.

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Attachments:
Download 'earth.png' (663 KB)

Preview of image 'earth.png'