high-definition image of our fair planet from space

[Ed Jewett]

NASA Releases Amazing 64-MP 8000x8000 Photo of Earth

8:00 AM - January 26, 2012 - By Jane McEntegart - Source : NASA via NPR






There's now place like home.

NASA has released a breath-taking high-definition image of our fair planet from space. The 64-megapixel image was captured by the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. According to NASA, the image is a a composite that uses a number of swaths of the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Earth's[/FONT][/FONT] surface taken on January 4, 2012.

This isn't the first time NASA has released a high-resolution image of the Earth as seen from space. The first (and arguably most famous) was taken by Apollo 17 and is known as the Blue Marble photo. NASA has released several photos along the same vein since then, including Blue Marble 2002, which many will recognize as the oh-so-familiar iPhone lock image.
Hit up NASA's Flickr to get the full-size version.

[Peter Lemkin]

Nice image. However nearly 50% of all tropical reefs and rainforest are gone forever. 200+ species go extinct per DAY. The air, water, soil and more is being poisoned. Fish are nearly fished-out in the sea...I could go on....we humans have befouled our nest, our home. The EXACT same kind of 'thinking' (sic) that is the political and social problem, is causing the environmental one. We are finished as a species within your children's lifetime [or less] if we don't change the WHOLE thing. Gaia is dying. We are the virus that has spread everywhere doing the damage!