The blues and greens of Earth’s surface have rarely looked finer than in this new ultra high definition video — taken from space.
NASA released the four-minute video Monday showing some inspiring footage of the Earth and the interior of the International Space Station. The video shows views of astronauts making food and performing experiments in microgravity. The HD cameras also captured one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules arriving at the station on a cargo run.
The YouTube clip puts Earth on display, revealing the details of a storm raging in an ocean, a circular island and several sunrises.
These videos can be used for more than just a pretty distraction. Scientists want to make use of this technology to take high resolution videos of experiments conducted on the Space Station.
Ultra-HD imagery taken from the International Space Station. One of the station’s large solar panels can be seen on the left.
Image: NASA
“This important new capability will allow researchers to acquire high resolution [and] high frame rate video to provide new insight into the vast array of experiments taking place every day,” NASA said in a statement. “It will also bestow the most breathtaking views of planet Earth and space station activities ever acquired for consumption by those still dreaming of making the trip to outer space. “
The video is just the first in a series of ultra HD videos that NASA is planning to release.
You can watch live high definition video of Earth as seen from the Space Station at almost any time. NASA streams footage taken by the High Definition Earth Viewing experiment on the station. The live feed occasionally blacks out when the ISS is out of communication with ground operators, however.
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