Earth's Selfie Satellite

[Narrator] This is the earth.

Super pretty right?

It's also a rare picture,

because this isn't a composite,

it's one complete image.

Wanna see something even more rare?

That's the freakin' moon

traveling in front of the earth.

These images were taken by a newly operational space craft

called the Deep Space Climate Observatory,

or DSCOVR.

It was able to capture them

because it's way out in a place of gravitational equilibrium

between the earth and the sun,

called Lagrange Point One.

It's not just out there to get awesome imagery.

DSCOVR is like an outer space weather buoy,

sending home warnings whenever waves

of highly energetic particles ejected from solar flares

are on an intercept course with the earth.

When these particles arrive,

they interact at the magnetosphere

and cause, among other things, the Aurora.

Data from DSCOVR would give the earth a 45 minute heads-up,

which will give people a lot of extra time

to plan Aurora-themed dance parties.

Just kidding.

The real reasons scientists want that 45 minute warning

is because these solar winds can knock out power grids,

degrade oil pipelines,

or expose plane travelers to harmful radiation.

And thanks to the high-resolution camera,

it also let's us know the moon is still out there,

circling the earth.