Blue Marble
This 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth was taken from the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite — Suomi NPP. The composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.
Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.
Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is the VIIRS.
