The Blue Marble, 2012

An image of the 'Blue Marble', Earth, taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's Earth-observing satellite Suomi NPP, which observes many facets of our changing Earth.

This composite image combines views of various swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012.

The NPP satellite was renamed Suomi NPP on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.