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This composite color full-disk visible image of the Western Hemisphere was captured from NOAA GOES-16 satellite at 1:07 pm EST on Jan. 15, 2017.NOAA
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Earth, like you’ve never seen it before.

Using brand new technology, stunning images of the planet were captured that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration described as “like high-definition from the heavens.”

The orbiting weather satellite known as GOES-16 took the photos published on Monday from 22,300 miles above Earth.

NASA released the first “Blue Marble” photo, which captures the whole Earth, in 1972, but the new images are from the most sophisticated satellite yet.

The satellite, which launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, can get footage of planet in its entirety every 15 minutes, and has the ability to provide photos of areas affected by severe weather every 30 seconds.

“The image is much more than a pretty picture, it is the future of weather observations and forecasting,” said Louis W. Uccellini, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, in a statement. “High resolution imagery from GOES-16 will provide sharper and more detailed views of hazardous weather systems and reveal features that previous instruments might have missed, and the rapid-refresh of these images will allow us to monitor and predict the evolution of these systems more accurately.”

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