Earth in perspective:

• Stratocam takes the most beautiful landscape satellite photographs from Google Maps, as voted on by visitors, and switches them every few seconds, with a fullscreen mode.
• ChronoZoom is an interactive, zoomable HTML5 timeline of the entire history of the universe, from the Big Bang to Homo Sapiens, with embedded video and lectures.

posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Mar 17, 2012 - 10 comments

Satellite views of the world's largest slums
posted by Trurl on Feb 23, 2012 - 48 comments

The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of Earth, taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on December 7th 1972, as they traveled to the moon. On January 23th, 2012, the Suomi NPP satellite snapped a similar, high definition photo, called Blue Marble 2012. By sure to check out the other side of the Marble, how the photos were taken and a PDF that describes the NPP project.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Feb 3, 2012 - 22 comments

Trevor Paglen (aka Agent Plorver) has work featured in Belgium's z33 House for Contemporary Art's current exhibit, Architecture of Fear. Paglen's work includes tracking and photographing 189 classified American satellites in orbit around Earth as well as locating and photographing US-run 'black sites' in Afghanistan. We Make Money Not Art (previously w/r/t Architecture of Fear) sits down with Paglen over Skype for an interview.
posted by shakespeherian on Nov 21, 2011 - 5 comments

Moon Landing Tapes Found! [more inside]
posted by sexyrobot on Jul 2, 2009 - 93 comments

Earth, observed. Standout photographs from NASA's Earth Observatory website.
posted by homunculus on Jan 14, 2009 - 11 comments

30 Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth "From 400 miles away, the earth transforms into abstract art. The global landscape is impressionist, cubist and pointillist." Nice NASA images from 2000, downloadable as wallpaper.
posted by CunningLinguist on Jul 9, 2008 - 16 comments

Satellites Document War, Destruction From Outer Space. The AAAS's Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project uses high-resolution satellite photography to detect and call attention to human rights violations.
posted by homunculus on Jun 15, 2008 - 13 comments

Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica UK and US researchers peice together the most detailed map of Antarctica yet, searching through years of data to find cloud free images.
posted by Artw on Nov 27, 2007 - 17 comments

Fighter jets, overturned tractor trailers, WW II bombers, cars parked on walls, and more of The Strangest Sights in Google Earth
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 27, 2007 - 53 comments

Have you ever wondered what a solar eclipse would look like from space? The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has just sent back its view (awe-inspiring video included). It has also sent back some gorgeous pictures of our sun (and the McNaught Comet). For more media, check out the other galleries (including some 3D images). For more about the project, see NASA's STEREO homepage. Be sure to also stop by the Johns Hopkins University STEREO Page, where you can download a mission guide (pdf), view animations, watch a video of the launch, or even make your own papercraft STEREO model (pdf). You can also learn more in six minute segments with their series of short educational videos.
posted by wander on Mar 13, 2007 - 15 comments

Google's UK satellite photos have been drastically improved
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome on Feb 5, 2006 - 72 comments

Google Earth Threatens Democracy - Again! Sequel to an earlier article at The Register, here are some Google Earth shots of things which some would rather keep non-public, such as the recently uncensored White House roof or Russian nuke silos(page 1), or which stealth aircraft are parked at which air bases(page 3). Find more and send them in for their next dispatch.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Sep 21, 2005 - 12 comments

Middle East Enders (3.94mb JPEG), courtesy of SpaceImaging.com's gallery. Other wowsers include Singapore, Venice and the pyramids.
posted by armoured-ant on Feb 18, 2004 - 12 comments

300 miles up.
posted by crunchland on Sep 15, 2003 - 25 comments

Step above it all for a moment, and take a look at stunning images of the planet as seen through the eyes of the Landsat-7 satellite. Select an area of the globe, or view an index of the images.
posted by dejah420 on Apr 2, 2003 - 18 comments

How on Earth was this image made? Here is an opportunity for you to play image detective. How on Earth was this image made? Is it a painting, or a map? Is it a photograph? If so, was it taken from a high-flying aircraft, or from outer space? Is it a satellite image, or possibly even something else? Click to read the feature article when you’re ready to check your answer. (cheers, lagado)
posted by Ufez Jones on Mar 31, 2003 - 16 comments

These new satellite photos give yet another perspective to the damage done in Tuesday's attack.
posted by tdstone on Sep 17, 2001 - 1 comment

Sattelite Pics of NY, here is a bigger one
posted by zeoslap on Sep 12, 2001 - 3 comments

This is an amazing photograph of what the world looks like at night, from a low orbit. Although this is found in a subdirectory of NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, I'm not sure how to get to this pic by surfing the site, nor do I have any information on what was used to do the photographing. The link was sent to me in an email.

Anybody know the details on this one?
posted by lizardboy on Jan 2, 2001 - 13 comments

The World at Night. This amazing image (warning 500K) is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting DMSP satellites over regions of the world at night. You can clearly see the Nile river, Hong Kong, Hawaii and probably, if you look close enough, the town you are in right now. From Astronomy Picture of the Day
posted by lagado on Nov 27, 2000 - 18 comments

This reminded me of one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Once on vacation in Eastern Oregon, there was a total eclipse of the moon, just like this one. And some people nearby were taking photographs of it. Flash photographs. The round-trip time to the moon at the speed of light is 3 seconds and I wouldn't even want to calculate the attenuation caused by 320,000 miles of range. Sometimes it seems as if some people are completely and totally clueless about what they're doing.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jul 25, 2000 - 12 comments