---
title: "Check Out This 121-Megapixel Image of the Earth"
description: "The most detailed image of the Earth we've ever seen yet shows a very different image of the planet--here's why."
date: "2016-07-18"
modified: "2016-07-18"
authors:
  - name: "June Javelosa"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/javelosa-junegmail-com"
url: "https://futurism.com/check-out-this-121-megapixel-image-of-the-earth"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "blue marble"
  - "earth"
  - "elektro-l"
  - "NASA"
  - "russian space satellite"
---

# Check Out This 121-Megapixel Image of the Earth

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/earth-121megapixel.jpg>)
*121megapixel \<em\>Image: 123megapixel\</em\>*

A new image taken by the Russian weather satellite, Elektro-L is giving us a different perspective of the Earth. Unlike the “Blue Marble” images common to NASA-taken images, where multiple photos are snapped from several flybys stitched together , this 121-megapixel image managed to capture the Earth in a single shot.

Unlike anything we’ve ever seen, the weather satellite’s image used data based on wavelengths of visible and infrared light—a technique that turns vegetation into a rusty red hue[ is very prominent in the shot](<http://gigapan.com/gigapans/103187>).

The satellite took images from a single point over 35,000 kilometers over the Indian Ocean every 30 minutes, which was then combined to create videos by educator James Drake to show a day in the life of the planet. He used 350 full-resolution images taken from the Russian Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring.

https://youtu.be/3hdyRh60R-Q