The websites linked here go far beyond their first linked page. Please check out other viewing options! For example,
on the first link select the new GOES-16 satellite. Try the Suomi NPP Hybrid view at night, then experiment with all the links!
A note about our real world:
Please note that the apparent thickness of our atmosphere on the evening news is wildly inaccurate. The clouds don't "stick up"
from the edge of the earth as they do on TV. For example, on an 8 inch globe, the atmosphere to 100,000 feet is 1/50 (.020) of an inch.
We live in a very thin layer at the surface of our planet. The earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter, and our commercial aircraft fly at
up to 40,000 feet, or about 8 miles, or about 1/1000 of the earth's diameter, in air too thin to support human life. The deepest part of
our ocean is less than 8 miles. Please be aware -- it feels bigger because we are small, but there are a lot of us in this thin layer.
(Please check this updated version of Monty Python's "Galaxy Song")