Zoom Earth — FAQs

Zoom Earth shows new NASA satellite images every day. Explore satellite and aerial images of the Earth in a simple, zoomable interface. Zoom into near-live satellite images from NASA and Bing Maps. Previously known as Flash Earth.

Where do the images come from?

NASA satellites VIIRS, Aqua and Terra provide the daily images. Bing Maps provides the high resolution images. Globe images are captured hourly by DSCOVR.

Are images updated every day?

Only NASA images (where clouds are visible) are updated daily. Bing Maps images (where buildings are visible) are not updated daily and are several years old.

Why are some areas black/missing?

This is typically due to a delay in processing. Some areas such as the north pole during December and the south pole during June will be appear black due to the tilt of the earth and the Arctic Circle. Aqua/Terra images have some missing “stripes” around the equator due to the way those satellites orbit the Earth.

Can these images be licensed?

NASA images are free to use. Bing Maps has an SDK. Zoom Earth created by Neave Interactive.