Earth. 'Blue Marble' satellite image of the Earth, showing the North Pole (white, upper centre), Europe (centre left) and Asia (centre right). This is a composite image combined from data collected on 4th January 2012 and 26th May 2012. The data used to make this image was recorded in 22 spectral bands covering visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Imaged by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on NASA's Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite.