(CNN) -- NASA and Japan improved our world view this week, or at least our view of the world. The American space agency and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have released a new digital topographic map of Earth that accurately portrays more of our planet than ever before.
The new map consists of 1.3 million images taken by NASA's Terra satellite that have been pieced together to form a unified picture of the planet. The images were taken by a Japanese imaging instrument called the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER.
