Posts tagged earth

Earth, 121 Megapixel Russian Edition Via The Verge: There’s been a long history of NASA-provided “Blue Marble” images of Earth, but now we’re getting a different perspective thanks to photos taken by the Elektro-L No.1 Russian weather satellite. Unlike NASA’s pictures, this satellite produces 121-megapixel images that capture the Earth in one shot instead of a collection of pictures from multiple flybys stitched together. The result is the highest-resolution single picture of Earth yet. The image certainly looks different than what we’re used to seeing, and that’s because the sensor aboard the weather satellite combines data from three visible and one infrared wavelengths of light, a method that turns vegetation into the rust color that dominates the shot. A zoomable version of this image is here. A collection of related images is available on the Planet Earth Web site.

Earth, 121 Megapixel Russian Edition

Via The Verge:

There’s been a long history of NASA-provided “Blue Marble” images of Earth, but now we’re getting a different perspective thanks to photos taken by the Elektro-L No.1 Russian weather satellite. Unlike NASA’s pictures, this satellite produces 121-megapixel images that capture the Earth in one shot instead of a collection of pictures from multiple flybys stitched together. The result is the highest-resolution single picture of Earth yet. The image certainly looks different than what we’re used to seeing, and that’s because the sensor aboard the weather satellite combines data from three visible and one infrared wavelengths of light, a method that turns vegetation into the rust color that dominates the shot.

A zoomable version of this image is here. A collection of related images is available on the Planet Earth Web site.

Earth Via NASA: A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin. Suomi NPP is NASA’s next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth. Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS. Image: Blue Marble 2012 via NASA/Flickr. Select to embiggen.

Earth

Via NASA:

A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed ‘Suomi NPP’ on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.

Suomi NPP is NASA’s next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.

Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS.

Image: Blue Marble 2012 via NASA/Flickr. Select to embiggen.

Fly Me to the Moon

Or around the Earth as the case may be.

Astronauts on the International Space Station circle the planet every two to three hours. In this time-lapse video, we see what they see. 

The minute-long video starts at night over the northern Pacific and ends at sunrise near Antarctica.

Via NASA.

The Earth and the Moon The NASA space probe JUNO is currently on a 445 million mile journey to explore Jupiter. Now a month into its mission and six million miles away, it’s taken a picture of the Earth and the moon. Feel lonely out there? As Ian O’Neill writes at Discovery: It’s when I see photos like this, everything instantly snaps into perspective. To paraphrase Sagan, everything we’ve ever known and loved exists on that small dot. Everything. Image: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Earth and the Moon

The NASA space probe JUNO is currently on a 445 million mile journey to explore Jupiter. Now a month into its mission and six million miles away, it’s taken a picture of the Earth and the moon.

Feel lonely out there?

As Ian O’Neill writes at Discovery:

It’s when I see photos like this, everything instantly snaps into perspective. To paraphrase Sagan, everything we’ve ever known and loved exists on that small dot. Everything.

Image: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

File under: Visualization can teach us things we don’t know about. Via Power of Data Visualization: [The] above image looks like a giant potato, but it is actually our Earth. After just two years in orbit, European Space Agency’s GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the ‘geoid’ ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth works. Takeaway: we’re a mostly lumpy species living on a very lumpy planet.

File under: Visualization can teach us things we don’t know about.

Via Power of Data Visualization:

[The] above image looks like a giant potato, but it is actually our Earth. After just two years in orbit, European Space Agency’s GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the ‘geoid’ ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth works.

Takeaway: we’re a mostly lumpy species living on a very lumpy planet.