To celebrate Earth Day, we've compiled the best images of our planet as seen from NASA's satellites.

Aracar Volcano, Andes Mountains Despite the amount of preserved lava flows situated at its base might suggest, the Aracar Volcano, located east of the Argentina-Chile border, has been inactive for a long time. Saltwater wetlands, temporary marshes, salt lakes, and salt crust comprise the white areas (called "Salars") pictured near the top. NASA/JPL/UCSD/JSC

It's the 40th anniversary of Earth Day today. To honor our beloved planet, it's nice sometimes to stop and envy the view enjoyed by such a tiny slice of humanity: the astronauts. Here we've compiled some of our favorite views of Earth from space.


Click to launch the photo gallery

In addition to more conventional images taken from spacecraft and satellites, we've also included more data-rich visualizations of the sort that continue to help us understand our great planet.

Launch the gallery above for images of earthquakes, fires, sunsets, ice shelves and more. Happy Earth Day!

1 Comment

I really hope that human kind will realize how beautiful our planet is, and learn to live with it in harmony...

Ivan Malagurski



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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