Daily

One regular dose of Earth from above

Amazon Spheres

47.615556°,-122.339444° - Nearmap

The Amazon Spheres are three spherical conservatories that make up part of Amazon’s headquarters in downtown Seattle, Washington. The glass domes, which range from 80 to 95 feet (24-29 meters) in height, contain 40,000 plants from 50 countries and serve as an employee lounge and workspace. Public access is provided as part of weekly guided tours and a twice-monthly reservation program.

San Francisco Salt

37.502806°,-122.034250° - Nearmap

Electric wires stretch across bright red salt ponds in San Francisco Bay, California. Here, sea water is channelled into large ponds and exits through natural evaporation, leaving the salt behind to be collected. The massive ponds get their vibrant reddish colors from the algae that thrive in the extremely salty water.

Earth from DSCVR

25.034280°,-77.396280° - NASA

The first photograph captured by the camera onboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR) satellite, which orbits approximately 1 million miles away from Earth on July 6, 2015. This image was made by combining three separate photos to get a full picture of the planet. DSCVR’s camera will continue to provide a daily stream of Earth images, allowing for both real-time and ongoing observation of the planet. In this image, North and Central America are visible, along with the centrally-located shallow, turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea.Read the full story →

Wuhan Hospital Construction

19.373908°,-99.088439° - Maxar

Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China was built over a 10 day period between January 23 and February 2. With more than 7,000 people working around the clock, the facility was a major step in the Chinese government’s response to slow the spread of COVID-19. The facility has 1,000 beds with 30 intensive care units, medical equipment rooms, and quarantine wards. Field hospitals like this one are one of the ways China has slowed the spread of the virus. As of today, China has reported a second consecutive day of no new confirmed cases in Hubei province, the epicenter of the pandemic. This image was featured in our story "Perspective on the Coronavirus."Read the full story →

New Quebec Orogen

56.000000°,-67.500000° - NASA

Swirling folds of basaltic rock can be seen in the New Quebec Orogen, a large geologic belt in northeastern Canada. This area, also known as the Labrador Trough, covers an area of about 98,000 square miles (254,000 square km) and was formed some 2.17 billion years ago as molten rock erupted from rifts in the Earth’s crust flooded the landscape with basalt. The cliff face of each flow or “step” in this formation stands between 160 and 230 feet (50-70 m) tall.

Nardò Ring

40.327222°,17.826111° - Maxar Technologies

The Nardò Ring is a high speed, 7.8 mile long, circular test track in Nardò, Italy. Each of the ring’s four lanes has a determined “neutral speed” and is banked in such a manner that one can drive as if the road were straight.

Duomo di Milano

45.464048°,9.189653° - Maxar

The plaza outside of Duomo di Milano, the largest cathedral in Milan, Italy, can be seen nearly empty last week (March 4) during a nationwide lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. As a means of limiting the number of cases, health organizations have recommended taking preventative measures such as limiting public gatherings until more data can be gathered about the spread of the virus. We’ll do our best to continue to provide big picture perspectives during this time. Please take your health and the health of those around you seriously - wash your hands and employ social distancing as much as possible. Be safe!

Hamburg

53.550530°,9.969369° - Maxar Technologies

Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and seventh largest in the European Union, with a population of more than 1.8 million. The city center is seen here situated around the Binnenalster, one of two artificial lakes built within its limits. Located on the River Elbe, Hamburg contains the third busiest port in Europe, shipping roughly 145 million tonnes of goods every year.

Banks Peninsula

-43.750000°,172.833000° - Maxar Technologies

Check out this amazing Overview of the Banks Peninsula, which juts off the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. The landmass, which is volcanic in origin, has an area of roughly 440 square miles (1,150 sq. km) and encompasses two large harbors and many small bays and coves. It is believed that forests once covered 98% of the Banks Peninsula, yet — as the result of deforestation — less than 2% of the native forest cover remains today.

Cuajone Mine

-17.040645°,-70.711594° - Maxar Technologies

The Cuajone Mine is located near the district of Torata, in the southern range of the Peruvian Andes. The mine is best known for its copper deposits, but other materials such as silver, zinc, and molybdenum have been extracted from it as well. Operations began in 1970, and by 2009 accounted for 16% of the country's copper production.

Hvar Soccer Pitch

43.166781°,16.446197° - Maxar Technologies

A football (soccer) pitch is nestled along the waterfront of Križna Luka, a neighborhood on the Croatian island of Hvar. Located in the Adriatic Sea, Hvar is about 115 square miles (298 square km) in size and has slightly more than 11,000 residents. The pitch shown in this Overview is the home ground for the NK Hvar football club and has the capacity to seat 1,000 fans.

Athabasca Oil Sands

57.020000°,-111.650000° - Maxar Technologies

Waste ponds can be seen at the Athabasca oil sands in Canada. The area contains the largest known deposits of bitumen on Earth. Bitumen is a semi-solid form of crude oil that naturally occurs as a mixture of sand, clay, and water. The additional energy required to mine and then remove the sand from the bitumen leads to the release of more carbon emissions than in any other form of oil production. Extraction takes place by injecting hot water into deep wells so the sands liquefy and can be pumped up to the surface. This waste pond is roughly four square miles (10 square kilometers).

Brussels

50.855457°,4.377279° - Maxar Technologies

The City of Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the largest municipality in the greater Brussels Capital Region. The city proper has a population of roughly 176,000, while more than 1.2 million people live in the Capital Region. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union and a hub for rail, road and air traffic, earning it the nickname “Crossroads of Europe.”

Angas Inlet Trees

-34.812361°,138.540000° - Nearmap

Trees grow inside the hull of a sunken ship in the Angas Inlet, an arm of the Gulf St. Vincent in Adelaide, Southern Australia. In this inlet and others nearby can be found the remains of more than 30 iron and wooden ships abandoned up until 1945. They serve as canoeing attractions and bird roosts for upwards of 200 species of local and migratory birds.

Glacial Melt

63.775112°,-18.096280° - Maxar Technologies

Glacial melting and flooding occurs every year by the Skafta River in Iceland. As the water travels down towards the North Atlantic Ocean, incredible patterns are created on the hillsides. Rising lava, steam vents, or newly opened hot springs can all cause this rapid ice melt, leading to a sizable release of water that picks up sediment as it flows down from the glaciers.

Labirinto della Masone

44.853672°,10.146420° - Maxar

Labirinto della Masone, located just outside of Parma, Italy, is the world’s largest bamboo labyrinth. Taking the shape of an eight-pointed star, the labyrinth is made up of 200,000 bamboo plants, some as much as 49 feet (15 m) tall. For a sense of scale, this entire complex covers about 17 acres (6.87 hectares).

Uluru / Ayers Rock

-25.345000°,131.036111° - Maxar Technologies

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the Northern Territory of Australia. The monolith — rising to a height of 2,831 feet (863 m) with a perimeter of 5.8 miles (9.4 km) — is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people who settled there 10,000 years ago. While the first Australian tourists arrived at Uluru in 1936, annual visitor numbers rose to more than 400,000 by the year 2000. Increased tourism at the site provides regional and national economic benefits, but also creates an ongoing challenge to balance conservation, cultural values, and visitor needs.

Schwetzingen Palace

49.384167°,8.570556° - Maxar Technologies

Schwetzingen Palace is located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Built in stages from 1700 until 1750, the grounds of the palace feature ornate gardens that were designed in the styles of the the "French formal garden" and the "English landscape garden."

Beni River

-10.382100°,-65.390300° - United States Geological Survey

The Beni River flows for roughly 680 miles (1,100 km) through northern Bolivia. Scattered along the river are numerous oxbow lakes, which are curved bodies of water that form when a meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a freestanding body of water. Dark green colors in the image indicate forest and lighter green shades indicate grassland or sparse forest.

Iōjima

30.790833°,130.296111° - Maxar Technologies

Iōjima — not to be confused with Iwo Jima — is an island located 59 miles (110 km) south of Kagoshima, Japan. Iōjima experiences frequent volcanic activity, which results in massive amounts of sulfur dioxide flowing into the sea. This causes the surrounding waters to turn yellow, green, and teal as seen here. The island has a total area of 4.5 miles (11.65 sq km) and a population of 142 people.