EarthScience Wire

NASA’s 3.2 gigapixel mosaic of … us

Posted by
Deborah Byrd
and
May 23, 2014
This is NASA's massive, 3.2 gigapixel mosaic of ... us. And we look good. Image via NASA.
View larger. | This is a massive, 3.2 gigapixel mosaic of … us. And we look good. NASA made this image of 36,422 individual images that posted to social media sites on or around Earth Day, April 22, 2014. Image via NASA.
Will Ferrell? Or his doppleganger. Grabbed from NASA's global selfie.
Will Ferrell? Or his doppelganger. Grabbed from NASA’s global selfie.

To see the individual selfies, click into the big, zoomable version of the global selfie here.

This past Earth Day (April 22, 2014), NASA invited you – and everyone else on the planet – to take part in a worldwide celebration. They asked us to take pictures of ourselves wherever we were on Earth, then post to social media using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie. And here’s the result. It’s a 3.2 gigapixel global selfie composed of 36,422 individual images. NASA said:

People on every continent – 113 countries and regions in all – posted selfies. From Antarctica to Yemen, Greenland to Guatemala, Micronesia to the Maldives, Pakistan, Poland, Peru – and on. The image was assembled after weeks of curating more than 50,000 #globalselfie submissions – not all were accessible or usable – from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and Flickr.

Click here to read more about this image.

Bottom line: Cool global selfie from NASA, taken for and around last Earth Day 2014. Do you see yourself?

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Posted 
May 23, 2014
 in 
Earth

Deborah Byrd

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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

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