HD Earth

These cool HD Earth pictures from Nasa are the most detailed views of Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite images, scientists painstakingly stitched together months of observations to create these montages which show the surface of the continents and oceans in stunning detail.

This mesmerising view of Earth is a montage of images taken by the Terra satellite orbiting 435miles above the planet's surface.

India takes centre stage here with the vast continent of Africa curving away to the left. Images were taken every eight days to reveal land surface that might otherwise be obscured by cloud.