A satellite took a ‘selfie’ in orbit.

In 2013, Oxford Dictionaries’ ‘word of the year’ was ‘selfie.’ In the years before, the idea was novel. However, since then, the phrase (and the images) have virtually become second nature to us. We take a selfie while we are in an attractive outdoor setting. We take a selfie when we are with friends. Even if we are doing something that we consider to be unique, the picture quickly ends up on social media.

The Great Barrier Reef is visible in the background of a recent selfie taken by a satellite. Even the selfie stick on the satellite was utilised to take the picture. The satellite is owned by a company and is revolving around the Earth in an orbit 550 kilometres from the surface.

The microsatellite, named MP42 was launched into space in the month of April this year. It hitched a ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

‘We wanted to highlight the vulnerability of our planet and the importance of Earth observation by satellites, especially for monitoring environment and climate changes,’ said NanoAvionics, the company which owns the microsatellite. The company has even published the video on Yutube. Check it out.