Audience
Educators, Students
Grade Levels
Grades K-4, Grades 5-8, Grades 9-12, Higher Education
Subject
Earth Science, Technology, Planet Earth, Photography and Imaging
Type
Other Multimedia, Websites
See images of the entire sunlit side of Earth, and watch time-lapse videos of Earth spinning created from those images. The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera, or EPIC, is one million miles from the planet. The camera is attached to NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, satellite. DSCOVR orbits where the matching pull of gravity from the sun and Earth allows the satellite to stay relatively stable between the two bodies. From this distance, EPIC captures a color image of the sunlit side of Earth at least once every two hours. This capability allows researchers to track features as the planet rotates in the instrument’s field of view. See some of the best images of Earth.
DSCOVR: EPIC — Earth Polychromatic Camera