Remember that NASA satellite photo of the Earth at super-high resolution? The space agency just posted the sequel, this time capturing the Northern Hemisphere at even higher clarity -- 121 megapixels.
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center posted the photo to its Flickr feed late on Monday. The same Suomi NPP satellite that took the first picture did this one as well -- both are composite photos, combining imagery from several different orbits to produce the final pic. The Arctic View took Suomi 15 trips around the Earth to complete.
It was worth the trip. At the highest resolution (viewable here), the pic reveals an amazing level of detail: individual peaks in the arctic ice sheets, the city of London and the clear outline of Great Bear Lake in Northern Canada. No sign of Santa's Workshop, however.
The Suomi NPP satellite was named after the Verner E. Suomi, the so-called “father of satellite meteorology." It was made specifically to shoot high-res imagery of the Earth to help keep tabs on natural disasters as well as improve understanding of weather and climate. The satellite was launched in 2011, but prior to that NASA had been working on high-res imagery of the Earth for decades, some of which is used in the iPhone's home screen.
How do you like the latest image of Earth from NASA? And what part of the planet would you like to see featured next? Sound off in the comments.
BONUS: 18 Photos of NASA 'Five in Five' Rocket Launch