NASA's 'Earth As Art' Offers Eye-Catching Images

Garden City, Kansas. Image via NASA 'Earth As Art.'Guaranteed to change your perspective on some of the world’s most beautiful places: NASA recently released hardcover, (free!) ebook, and (free!) iPad app versions of a new book titled Earth as Art, which features 75 images on 158 pages taken from space by NASA and U.S. Gealogical Survey satellites. The out-of-this world photographers—namely, the Landsat 5 and 7, Terra, Aqua, and Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellites—are capable of measuring light outside of the visible range. That means images that pop in ways your naked eye could not have conceived. The iPad version of Earth as Art allows users to zoom into the images and access additional information on selected features and the satellites used. 

Images are taken of locations all over the world, but without the typical natural wonders (no Grand Canyon, for instance) and without urban settings. The focus is mostly on natural environments, both terrestrial and aquatic, with a few cultivated land forms also presented. Locations in the United States include Desolation Canyon, Garden City (pictured above), Meandering Mississippi, Mississippi River Delta, Painted Desert, Sand Hills, and the Susitina Glacier. Land art almost seems mundane by comparison.