The Russian weather satellite, Elektro-L, has captured what is claimed to be the highest resolution, single-capture image ever taken of Earth from space.
The camera that snapped the image is equipped with a 121 megapixel image sensor, capturing three visible, and one infrared wavelength. Due to this, vegetation in the image appears orange in colour. Each pixel in the image represents approximately 95km on the ground.
Elektro-L, launched in January 2011, is Russia's most advanced weather satellite. It operates at an altitude of approx. 36,000 km, placing it in geosynchronous orbit. It is the first Russian weather satellite to operate in such an orbit. Before the launch of Elektro-L, Russian meteorologists had to rely on U.S. and European satellites for their weather data.
The satellite captures new images of Earth every half hour.
A stunning time-lapse image of the Earth is available here, which shows off the images obtained between May 14th and May 20th, 2011.
