These stunning photographs may look like alien planets, but they are actually satellite images of planet Earth. Commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe recently released the images as a way of highlighting the incredible detail of their imagery – the highest-resolution commercial satellite imagery in the world. Some of the images – taken above Afghanistan, Algeria, Peru, Russia and the United States – look more like abstract works by Mondrian than segments of the globe. DigitalGlobe, based in Westminster, Colo., launched its first satellite in 1999 and currently has four in operation. Here: Trementina, New Mexico. (Photo by DigitalGlobe/Caters News)

A group of stags charge across a frosty field in Bushy Park, London, leaping in near-perfect formation as the early morning mist hangs low in the second decade of December 2025. (Photo by Max Ellis/The Times)

Two drunk race-goers make their way home after the last race of the third day of the Royal Ascot horse racing week June 19, 2003 in Ascot, England. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Rice seedling festival is a traditional folk festival in longji, guangxi, China on June 9, 2019, during grain in ear season. (Photo by Costfoto/Barcroft Media)

The Invasion. A quiet street in Macau. Modernization around is quickly changing the city, as documented by Paul Tsui. (Photo by Paul Tsui/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

A Germany fan looks dejected after the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group E match between Costa Rica and Germany at Al Bayt Stadium on December 1, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Indigenous people participate in a march commemorating the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples in Mexico City on August 9, 2023. (Photo by Alfredo Estrella/AFP Photo)

A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip, Monday, October 2, 2017, in Las Vegas. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals after a shooting late Sunday at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. (Photo by John Locher/AP Photo)