Watch our planet’s seasonal heartbeat in ‘A Breathing Earth’

NASA's Visible Earth catalogue contains some truly spectacular images of our planet, but some, if you'll pardon the pun, take your breath away.

Created by John Nelson, and posted on his blog, the animation uses NASA Visible Earth images from various points during the year. Strung together and looped, it shows the changing seasons in such a way that it looks like the Earth is breathing.

For a slightly different view, and showing off these changes for different parts of the world, here's a YouTube video that pans south and then north again, as the snows expand and retreat, and the green of vegetation 'migrates' back and forth:

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There's even a larger version on his blog, as well as another animation showing the view from both poles at once and the map projection of the Earth. Check them out!

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