This enhanced (colour changed) image of melting sea ice east of Churchill, Manitoba is a part of a project photographing national parks. The dark green on the left is firmer sea ice. The spots in purple are where melting is forming small ponds on top of the ice, while the black is already a 'pond' in the middle of the sea! (Ducks Unlimited Canada. RADARSAT Constellation Mission imagery © Government of Canada 2021)
There is a reason why we love satellite images so much. They offer us a perspective that we just can't get ourselves. And it's about more than just being high up above the Earth.
Satellites are also equipped with lenses and sensors that exceed the power of our own vision. They offer us a superhuman view of our surroundings—whether they be of our own planet or of the depths of the universe!
Today, we're giving you a look at both of these things. That's because the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) recently released an incredible collection of aerial pictures of national parks. So cool!
And, earlier this week, NASA released their first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, one of the most powerful deep space telescopes ever launched!
A taste of home, and a taste of the edges of the universe. Wow!
National Parks, from above
A section of Prince Edward Island National Park of Canada. (Arctus Inc. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data processed by ESA)
There are 48 national parks in Canada. These official reserves are designed to both protect and preserve the country's natural beauty, all while giving people a chance to experience landscape and wildlife up close.
Have you ever visited one? From coast to coast to coast, across mountains and plains, forests and tundra, rivers and oceans, they are all amazing! Not only are they beautiful in person, they are also spectacular from up above.
To showcase this, the CSA challenged 31 different organizations to use satellite images to make 'Satellite Art' with photos of these national parks. These groups aren't artists—usually they handle data and scientific research. But the results they got are stunning. Some of the satellite images were left as is, while others have been enhanced with colours or additional images.
Here are just a few of the entries!
Changing seasons in Quttinirpaaq National Park of Canada, Nunavut. This combines two different satellite images of the lake. The blue ice is of the lake thawing in spring, while the other side is the ice cover in the middle of winter. (H2O Geomatics. Landsat 8 images courtesy of the USGS. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-1 data processed by ESA)
Some entries got very creative, like this one called 'Qaamisimajuq – Blanket of Winter', which blends satellite imagery with other photos and art. (Jamesie Itulu from Mittimatalik (formerly called Pond Inlet), in collaboration with the Sikumik Qaujimajjuti (meaning 'tool to know how the ice is' in Inuk) team at SmartICE–Andrew Arreak, Leanne Beaulieu, Becky Segal, and Lynn Moorman. Photos: Andrew Arreak, Leanne Beaulieu, and Shelly Elverum. RADARSAT Constellation Mission imagery © Government of Canada 2021)
Some groups also did images of cities as well. This is a part of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan during winter. So peaceful and white! (Western Heritage. Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
Of course, we can't show all of the entries here, but for a taste of some of the others, check out the YouTube video below!
Messages from space
We also promised you images of deep space, too. And they are worth the wait, believe us!
The James Webb Space Telescope is a revolutionary craft that is the most powerful space telescope ever launched. It is designed to read infrared radiation, a type of light that is just below what we can see with the naked eye. What are we missing out on? Turns out, a LOT!
Though it was launched last December, these are the first ever images captured by the telescope to be released to the public. Get ready to be blown away!
This cluster of gases is the birth of a star in progress. Awwww, so cute! (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
Meanwhile, these images show the death of a star. Miraculous! (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
These are five galaxies in a dance with each other. It's an intergalactic quintet—can you pick out all five? (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
And finally, this is a image of deep, deep space. Some of the light in this image has taken 13 billion years to reach us and is from the earliest days of the universe. Just as amazing, aside from a few of those bright, spiky images (which are single stars), every single 'character' in this photo is an entire galaxy! You're looking at hundreds of them! (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
These are beautiful!