Planet Snapshots

JANUARY 6, 2022

Issue #7

Dhigurah Atoll in the Maldives on December 13, 2020.

In this week’s issue: a look back at our first image ever, a mesmerizing pattern takes shape on the ‘doomsday glacier’, a tornado tears through Kentucky, and India reveals a really big flag.

Randomly collected scenes from Doves, made by Joe Kington.

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Snapshots issue of 2022! Our New Year’s resolution is to bring you the best images and stories that a satellite’s perspective has to offer. Keep us on track by letting us know how we’re doing and sharing with others if you like what you see!

We’ve got exciting things planned for the year ahead and are appreciative of all of you who have joined our Snapshots community so far. Cheers to 2022 and ad astra!

FEATURED STORY

First Light, First (Public) Year

Dove 1 First Light: the first image taken by a Planet satellite.

As we kick off our first year as a public company, we wanted to throw it back to where it all began. When Planet’s first satellite launched in 2013, our founders’ original idea was to count every tree on Earth. It just so happens that the first image taken by Dove 1 was of a region in Oregon containing, well, pretty much only trees. We’ve taken millions of images since, but First Light showed the world that sending a fleet of Earth-imaging satellites into orbit was possible.

If you’re curious about Planet’s genesis and early days then check out this episode of How I Built This with two of our founders!

Claw Marks on the Ice

Pattern on the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica on December 21, 2021.

We’re not saying a giant mythical yeti made this scratch-like mark in the ice, so we’ll leave it to your imagination instead. One of our SkySats spotted this rippling pattern on the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, which is also known as the ‘doomsday glacier’ due to its potential to release massive amounts of water into the ocean as it warms. Scientists are monitoring the glacier’s melt and stability on the ice, and we’re keeping a sharp eye on it too.

Tornado Track

Planetscope images of tornado track in Mayfield, Kentucky on December 8 and 12, 2021.

A few weeks ago, a series of strong thunderstorms spawned tornadoes across the southeastern United States. This pair of PlanetScope images shows the area around Mayfield, Kentucky before and after a tornado struck the center of the town (between December 8 and 12). The tornado track shown here stretches from the southwest (lower left) to the northeast (upper right) through fields and forests. This, however, was just one of many that ravaged hundreds of miles across 6 Midwestern and Southern states.

Big, Big Flag

SkySat image of Indian Flag in Mumbai on December 5, 2021.

India sported its national pride last month for the 75th anniversary of their indepence. The Indian Navy unveiled a flag measuring 225 feet long and 150 wide, making it the largest flag in the world and easily seen from space. Good luck finding a pole big enough for that!

Instagram Highlight

Daily Overview

Created by Overview, source imagery from Planet

How do you cram nearly 10 million people into a single photo? @dailyoverivew has the answer. Using Planet’s data, @overview shows most of New York City’s 5 boroughs and parts of New Jersey in this stunning image of the country’s most populous city.