elektrol

Every 30 minutes, the weather satellite Elektro-L captures a 121 megapixel image from geosynchronous orbit using both visible and infrared light. And it's these images, captured between May 15th to May 19th, 2011, that James Tyrwhitt-Drake compiled into an incredibly beautiful, high-res time-lapses of the Blue Marble.

Over the past 24 hours, the Earth has been experiencing its autumnal equinox. That is, the length of day and night across the globe was the same due to the sun hitting the earth at just the right angle to align its shade perfectly with the Earth’s spin axis.

And thanks to the photographic work of Russian satellite Elektro-L, we get an awesome (albeit quick) view of this bi-annual occurrence from a pretty spectacular vantage point: space.