Satellite Photography

Satellite photography exists. However unless you own your own satellite or space station you won't be able to experience it, but you will be able to view the images it produces. Satellite photography consists of images of the Earth and other planets taken from satellites. They are very useful for things such as agriculture, geology, forestry, city planning, education, intelligence, elevation maps and warfare. Satellites can only view a relatively small area at the same time so mapping a large area takes some time.

Satellites used for photography are low in orbit and real time images of certain areas are often complicated. However, spy satellites can achieve this during wars and other intelligence and military operations, but the situation on the ground may be different from an old satellite picture.

The first satellite images of Earth were taken in 1960 by a weather satellite, but the Soviets may have taken the first satellite photos a year earlier on a mission to film the far side of the Moon.

All satellite photographs that are developed by NASA are published by Earth Observatory and are available to the public. Some other countries also have satellite programs and there are private institutions that take commercial satellite photos.

The images can be in colors and other specters and their resolution varies. Resolution of 10 meters or better is available for most cities in the world and resolution of 100-500 meters is typical for the suburbs. Most of the Earth has a resolution of 1 kilometer or better. Images with resolution as high as 10 centimeters is possible for some small areas.

Satellite photography has recently become widely available with access to imaging databases offered by various institutions and companies.

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