Earth

- SPECIFICATION
- SAMPLE PAGES
- STUNNING IMAGES
- DETAILED MAPS
- PRESS & PUBLIC REVIEWS
- FAQs
- EDUCATION DAY

STUNNING IMAGES

A selection of the book's images, such as this one, are 6ft (1.8m) wide gatefolds. The image is made up of hundreds of images, the three satellites that record night time data operate in low-altitude polar orbits. Lights seen are from cities, towns, industrial sites, gas flares and events such as fires and lightning-illuminated clouds. Not surprisingly this particular image has proven particularly interesting to children. Here is NASA’s explanation:

This image of Earth's city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth's surface. The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare Western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region. Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark, but lights are beginning to appear there. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya.

Giraffes running in Okavango Delta, Botswana

Only 3,000 copies of the atlas have been printed. Each weighs 30kg, measures 610mm x 469mm and contains 154 maps and 800 photographs backed with detailed descriptions of every country's geography, history and culture. This is a view of Hurricane Felix from space.

A herd of zebras in the bed of the Mara River, Masai Mara, Kenya

Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchuin in Peru, is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire

 

Tourists sail through dramatic arches of an iceberg on the Antarctica Peninsular

The uninhabited Rock Islands of Palau are the ancient relics of coral reefs that violently surfaced at a unique crossroads of three of the world’s major ocean currents

Many sing-sings take place in Papua New Guinea. Most are ceremonial and private, but since 1961 the annual sing-sing at Mt Hagen has drawn many tribes, each uniquely adorned, to perform in public

New York as seen from the Empire State Building

Isolated from the rest of the world until recently, the Longhorn Miao people of Guizhou, China, maintain long-held customs. Headwear made from horns - often adorned with long lengths of wool, hair, or other textiles - has given these unique people their tribal name

Glen Canyon in southeastern and south central Utah and northwestern Arizona, USA, is one of the most geologically diverse areas in Northern America

The old town of Cefalù on the north coast of Sicily

The Himba Women of Namibia coat their skin with an ochre mixture that protects against the sun while symbolising earth and blood

To order your copy of Earth, visit our map shop MapStop.co.uk or call 01280 840770 and we can answer any questions you may have.