Earth from Orbit: NOAA Satellites Celebrate Earth Day

Throughout history, humans have wondered what Earth looked like from above.

The Mesopotamians believed the world was a flat disk floating in an ocean, while Hindu mythology says the Earth is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle. Others imagined the world as part of a giant tree, among other ideas.

The ancient Greeks first suggested the world was spherical, and Ptolemy is credited as the first to conceive of the world in mathematical terms, publishing his treatise Geographia in AD 150. By the Middle Ages, the belief in a spherical Earth in Europe was relatively widespread.

With the birth of the space age, our actual view of the planet from above has changed as well. From blurry images that were stitched together with no frame of reference as to where they were looking, to today’s modern high resolution imagery, our perspective and ideas about what makes the world go round are constantly changing and improving.

Since 1970– also the year of the first official Earth Day– NOAA satellites have been monitoring Earth’s weather, environment, oceans, and climate, building upon early pioneering efforts by NASA and others. They provide critical information that feeds forecasts and warns us of severe weather and environmental hazards. NOAA operates two primary types of satellites: geostationary and polar-orbiting.

Learn more:

Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA

Music:
“Simple Plans,” by Sam Hamilton [PRS]; Volta Music; Universal Production Music

[lmarchand]

Nice video :) It's incredible how far the imagery has come since the 70s, or even the 90s and 00s. We can see our Earth and many other wonderful objects in 4K, 5K, 8K resolutions and watch little movies of them moving through space. And we can also see in great detail the terrible damage we have caused to our beautiful home and, if news reports are true, the damage we will soon inflict on our Moon. I sure wish we would work on restoring our own planet, put the dollars and effort there....and leave the Moon alone to be the nightly companion of lovers and dreamers; a source of solace for the lonely and sad; and a spiritual being/object for many cultures around the world.