THROWBACK THURSDAY - "The coolest time-lapse video you'll see all year"

(Originally published on December 3, 2014)

The most accurate,

highest resolution

video of Earth

EVER MADE

(Best watched in Full Screen)

(click your pointy thingy on the bottom right corner)

A time lapse of Earth in 4K resolution, as imaged by the geostationary Elektro-L weather satellite, from May 15th to May 19th, 2011. Elektro-L is located ~40,000 km above the Indian ocean, and it orbits at a speed that causes it to remain over the same spot as the Earth rotates. The satellite creates a 121 megapixel image (11136x11136 pixels) every 30 minutes with visible and infrared light wavelengths. 

To answer the most frequently asked question,

"Why are city lights, the Sun, and other stars not visible?"

City lights are not visible because they are thousands of times less bright than the reflection of sunlight off the Earth. If the camera was sensitive enough to detect city lights, the Earth would be overexposed. The Sun is not visible due to mechanisms used to protect the camera from direct exposure to sunlight. A circular mask ensures that only the Earth is visible. This mask can be seen as pixelation on Earth's horizon. The mask also excludes stars from view, although they would not be bright enough to be visible to this camera.

(via)