The most beautiful images from Google Earth

The above image is not a painting. It's a satellite photo of a lake around 40 miles from Volgograd in Russia.

Striking bird’s-eye views of some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world have been curated by Google and released in a new project. Earth View is a collection of 1,500 photographs from satellite images from the company.

The striking photographs depict both man-made and natural points of interest and are available for downloads as wallpapers, or as an extension for the Chrome browser.

The extension will open a new image from the collection every time you open a new tab.

The website also features a ‘leanback mode' which plays a slideshow of the wondrous photos.

Alternatively, sit back and take a gentle scroll through some of our favourites:

Creswell, Australia

Kihei, United States

Paris, France

Colombiers, France

Shabwa, Yemen

Mili Atoll, Marshall Islands

Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya

Fderik, Mauritania

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