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)

Aerial photography platform SkyPixel received 27,000 entries to its 2016 competition. Here are the winning shots plus some of our favourites. Here: Dam near perfect. Second prize in the same category was of the Huia Dam in Auckland, New Zealand. Hong Kong-based SkyPixel was launched in 2014. (Photo by Brendon Dixon/SkyPixel)

A boy moves away as a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) helicopter lands in Rubkuai village, Unity State, northern South Sudan, February 18, 2017. South Sudan on Monday declared famine in some parts of the country, with more than three years of war leaving nearly five million hungry in what aid groups called a “man-made” tragedy. (Photo by Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

Photographer Mihaela Noroc travelled the world from Ethiopia to the US and from Guatemala to France in search of natural and authentic beauty. She introduces some of the inspiring women she met on her journey. Here: Ecuador. “More and more tribes of Amazonia are starting to adopt modern clothes for everyday life. But they are still keeping their traditional clothes for important events. I photographed this young woman in her wedding outfit”. (Photo by Mihaela Noroc/The Guardian)

Photographer Khalid Alhammadi really has got his head in the clouds as he scales some of the Middle East’s tallest buildings to photograph iconic landmarks high above the rising mist. Khalid’s breathtaking shots over Abu Dhabi look almost otherworldly, with skyscraper tips and mosque towers poking through the eerie fog. Here: Night view of Abu Dhabi. (Photo by Khalid Alhammadi/Caters News Agency)

Israeli woman, Nora Lifschitz, 28, holds an injured Egyptian fruit bat at her home in Tel Aviv February 22, 2016. Lifschitz says that she began caring for injured fruit bats from her home two years ago and now has some 70 of the flying mammals which she plans to release back into nature once they are healthy. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Labourers stack dried bricks inside a kiln, where they will be fired, at a brick factory on the outskirt of Sanaa, Yemen, June 1, 2016. Traditional mud brick tower houses have always been a source of pride to Yemenis, and over a year into a devastating civil war, they are also providing some much-needed jobs in the ancient capital Sanaa. (Photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters)

In a country where some 200 breweries produce well over 1,000 different beers, surely no one is considering brewing their own? Wrong. Here: Arnaud Laloy, member of the Belgian Homebrewers association, adds hop in the brewing process to create his own beer in the garage of his house in Neufchateau, Belgium, August 11, 2016. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)