(stole this from slashdot) Blue Marble 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 Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2159.html FULL SIZE IMAGE (huge)...this one is absolutely wicked... http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/618486main_earth_full.jpg
Yes, very cool. The images released to the public have probably been scrubbed a bit. In reality, it can probably read a license plate.
Pretty sure that has nothing to do with de-forestation and is just a coincidence that the picture is centered over the dry and mountainous regions of North and Central America.
I wonder if the current drought conditions are reflected in this pic or if that is the standard colorization from that distance.
The photo looks strange. There doesn't seem to be vegetation in places where I've seen vegetation. South America looks small. Texas coast looks tropical instead of brown.
If you guys like that kind of image and have a Mac, you should look into getting EarthDesk. It has been my desktop background for quite a while.
and just think... Somewhere, some guy is on this beautiful planet....raping a mountain goat with sponge bob slippers on. Crazy how things are.
Kinda makes you wanna sing this song. :grin: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/at_f98qOGY0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
