Incredible pictures of Earth from new satellite

The newest Earth Observation Satellite,  NASA’s Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) mission took this stunning image on January 4th, 2012. Suomi NPP is a low earth observation satellite which takes images in swathes each time it passes over earth. You can see hi-res images by clicking on image above or click here to see even higher res images with a stunning amount of detail.

This picture represents a composite of passes over the planet as the VIIRS instrument cannot see the entire globe at once. Suomi NPP represents a critical first step in building the next-generation Earth-observing satellite system that will collect data on both long-term climate change and short-term weather conditions.