Watch a year in the life of the Earth. From a million miles away

The sun is about to come up over the South Pacific Ocean in this colorful scene photographed by one of the Expedition 35 crew members aboard the Earth-orbiting International Space Station between 4 and 5 a.m. local time on May 5, 2013 and released on May 9, 2013. The space station was at a point above Earth located at 27.4 degrees south latitude and 110.1 degrees west longitude, a few hundred miles east of Easter Island. NASA/Handout via Reuters
This is what we look like to a deep-space satelliteImage: NASA/Handout via Reuters

Whether it's storms in the Pacific Ocean or a solar eclipse, this video will show you the Earth as you’ve never seen it before.

Recently released by NASA, the clip is made up of over 3,000 still images, all taken from a million miles away by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard a deep-space satellite.

The satellite, called DSCOVR, is located in a unique, gravity-neutral point in space, which means it can hover between the Earth and the sun, allowing it to maintain a constant view of the sunlit side of our planet.

What can we see?

What stands out most clearly are features such as deserts, forests and the world’s coastlines, along with swirling global cloud patterns. More importantly, EPIC enables scientists to measure cloud height, vegetation properties and how much ultraviolet light is being reflected. It can even monitor ozone and aerosol levels in the atmosphere.

Remarkable moments over the space of a year include three storms raging in the Pacific, smoke from forest fires in South-East Asia, and the change in the Earth’s tilt as the seasons change.

Image: NASA/DSCOVR EPIC
Image: NASA/DSCOVR EPIC

Perhaps the most extraordinary event was a solar eclipse, which took place in March 2016. Here you can see the shadow of the moon as it moves across the globe.

Image: NASA/DSCOVR EPIC

Have you read?

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NASA's latest mission is a bit closer to home

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