The photo was captured by the satellite from 550 kilometres above the reef.
A breathtaking video shot by a satellite from space shows Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 4K resolution. The company which owns the satellite said it was captured by a deployable 4K camera installed on a selfie stick.
The MP42 microsatellite was flying 550 kilometres above the reef off the northeast coast of Australia when the video was shot, said NanoAvionics. The company also posted a high-resolution video on its YouTube channel.
Along with an immersive view of Earth, the video has also captured the Moon, which NanoAvionics said photobombed the selfie.
Featuring the Great Barrier Reef in the background was partly symbolic. “We wanted to highlight the vulnerability of our planet and the importance of Earth observation by satellites, especially for monitoring environment and climate changes,” the company said in a release.
The photos and clips were taken with a GoPro Hero 7, which was mounted on a selfie stick. NanoAvionics said that the satellite was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in April this year.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system, stretching for more than 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) along the northeast coast of Australia.
In a report released in March this year, a report by the Australia government said that the Great Barrier Reef is suffering “mass bleaching” due to global warming.
The report was based on extensive surveys of the World Heritage-listed reef between September 2021 and March 2022, according to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Of the 719 reefs surveyed, the report said 654 – or 91 per cent – showed some level of coral bleaching.
Though bleached corals are under stress, they can still recover if conditions become more moderate, the Reef Authority said.