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Colourful Planet

Episode 3 of 4

From space, Earth is a kaleidoscope. Turquoise plankton blooms trigger a feeding frenzy, China turns yellow with rapeseed flowers, and mysterious green lights appear in the ocean.

We think of the Earth as a blue planet, but satellite cameras reveal it to be a kaleidoscope. The astonishing colours of the aurora are towering vertical streaks, hundreds of kilometres high, phytoplankton blooms turn the ocean into works of art, triggering a feeding frenzy, and for a few weeks a year China's Yunnan province is carpeted in yellow as millions of rapeseed flowers bloom.

This is our home, as we’ve never seen it before.

Available now

58 minutes

SignedAudio described

Music Played

  • Pieter de Graaf

    Rise and Shine

Credits

RoleContributor
NarratorChiwetel Ejiofor
Executive ProducerJo Shinner
Series ProducerChloe Sarosh
ProducerJustin Anderson

Broadcasts

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Download your FREE Open University poster and find out more about our dynamic Earth from space

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