Neatly Geometric, High-Resolution Images of Earth From Space

There’s something magical about seeing Earth from space. From high above, familiar locations take on an alien, abstract look, a view only birds and pilots get on a regular basis. That’s why it’s worth obsessing over Planet Labs’ gallery of satellite images from across the world. 

The private aerospace company sent out a fleet of satellites from the International Space Station to orbit the Earth last year. Since then, the 28 Dove satellites have been taking near-constant high-resolution images of the world, including remote or hard-to-access places like North Korea and the Gobi Desert. 

“Our company goal is to image everywhere very frequently, for everyone,” the company’s co-founder, Robbie Schingler, told NASA when the project launched last February. Though the imagery has corporate applications in mapping and real estate, all the images are released to the public under a Creative Commons license, and Planet Labs hopes to support disaster relief and environmental research with its geographical monitoring. 

See a few of our favorite images from the 28 Dove satellites below. 

Adatarayama Volcano, Japan

Boqmech, Iran

Delmas, South Africa

Portage la Prairie, Canada

Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey

[h/t: Maclean’s]

All images by Planet Labs // CC BY-SA 4.0.