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 visitor views the work of artists Gonzalo Duran and Cheri Pann at their Mosaic Tile House in Venice, California U.S., August 26, 2016. With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Animal rights activists protest against the use of animal leather in fashion businness, a few days before the fashion week opening in Milan, Italy, 16 September 2018. (Photo by Matteo Bazzi/EPA/EFE)

Animal rights activists dressed up as rabbit carry signs that read “Ajinomoto Stop Animal Testing” as they protest outside Ajinomoto headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on January 20, 2023, ahead of Lunar New Year. Activists call for the end of Japanese food company testing on rabbits, dogs, pigs and other animals. (Photo by Arif Kartono/AFP Photo)

Workers in the first decade of June 2024 lacquering and organising parasols in neat lines to dry in the sunshine in Kampung Budaya Sindangbarang, West Java, so they will be preserved for longer. (Photo by Riza Amrullah/Solent News)

A woman poses on the flooded St. Mark's square during an acqua-alta (high-water) alert in Venice, on November 19, 2013. (Photo by Andrea Pattaro/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

American rapper Kanye West, American singer and songwriter Ty Dolla $ign, Australian architect and model Bianca Censori and her mother Alexandra Censori arrive back in Los Angeles, CA on a privet Jet on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Emily Ratajkowski sizzled in a plunging black swimsuit. The model is holidaying in the Adriatic near the Mediterranean Sea in the second decade of July 2025. (Photo by Instagram)