Villagers offer flowers to a wild tusker, laying dead in a field in Panbari villagein Panbari village on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, Thursday, November 2, 2017. According to a veterinarian the tusker died of food poisoning. Scarcity of food and illegal encroachment of forest areas have forced these wild elephant to move to populated areas for food. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

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)

An ice covered entrance door to the international gene bank Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) near Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, Norway, October 20, 2015. Two consignments of crop seeds will be deposited next year in a “doomsday vault” built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global supplies. The vault, which opened on the Svalbard archipelago in 2008, is designed to protect crop seeds, such as beans, rice and wheat against the worst cataclysms of nuclear war or disease. (Photo by Anna Filipova/Reuters)

A vendor prepares paan, a betel nut-based chewable stimulant at a flower market in Kolkata, India, January 18, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A bank employee exits the bank through a window broken by attackers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, September 14, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Malla/AP Photo)

Ava Cheptoo Cheruiyot, 11, a member of the Dance Centre Kenya (DCK), performs on stage during The Nutcracker at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi on December 7, 2024. The Nutcracker is a beloved Christmas ballet, first performed in 1892, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Known for its enchanting score and festive themes, it has become a holiday tradition worldwide. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

A navy diver storms into the gallery during a military display at Singapore's 52nd National Day celebrations at Marina Bay in Singapore August 9, 2017. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

A parrot breeder and his parrots are seen at the Damai Perdana hill in the Cheras region ahead of the May 31 World Parrot Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 29, 2022. A group of parrot breeders in the capital Kuala Lumpur performed a “free flight” performance with different species of parrots. (Photo by Syaiful Redzuan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)